Plain column shaft

Plain column drum with large fracture on the inferior, of which only the lower part is preserved with a small astragal (h. 4 cm, projecting 1,5 cm). The marble employed is a monochrome variety of “Giallo antico” (Marmor Numidicum), with a fairly uniform background colour and ochre streaks. The quarries, which in Roman times soon entered the imperial property, were located in Numidia. “Giallo antico” appears in Diocletian’s Edict on Prices as one of the most expensive qualities of marble; in Rome it was employed in private contexts as early as the II century BC, and subsequently it was largely used for decorative veneering until the end of the III century AD, when coloured, streaked marbles of lesser quality begun to be preferred.