Archaeology | Capitals | Corinthian | Corinthian column capital | Artwork profile

White marble

Total h. 27 cm; abacus side 28 cm; max. diag. 40 cm; lower diam. 23 cm

Half of the I cent. AD


Report

Corinthian column capital

Corinthian column capital with the kalathos enveloped by two crowns of acanthus leaves (h. first crown 8.5 cm; second crown 16 cm; kalathos with rim 22 cm) formed by five lobes. The acanthus has oval points and the lobes divided by elongated, vertical and drop-shaped voids, visible also on the calyx leaves; a pair of grooves, arranged in a Y-shaped pattern, run parallel to each other towards the bottom of the capital flanking the midrib decorated by a central thin incised line that, on the second crown, does not cover the entire height of the leaf but stops instead just after the middle; the lobes, of which the median ones are gently creased, have rounded points, well divided and outlined by thin incisions. We must note that the upper points of the inferior lobes overlap those of the superior lobe. The summits of the leaves, broken away, are gently bent.

The slightly diagonal cauliculi are girded by a convex rim with a transversal carving; from these spring the deeply grooved calyx leaves that supported the volutes, now missing, and the preserved helices with plain strip ending in a tight, projecting coil; the helices touch each other in the centre of the composition, under the abacus rosette. A small oval leaf takes the place of the calyx for the stem holding the abacus rosette (h. 5 cm), which, partially preserved, shows a large central button and thick petals on one side. The corners and the molded sides of the abacus are broken away; on its upper surface there are two square holes for fastening dowels (5 x 4,5 cm and 6 x 8 cm) and the related drainage channels (length 6,5 cm; w. 1,8 cm; d. 0,7 cm and length 7 cm; w. 1,5 cm; d. 0,7 cm).

Even though the capital shows a certain degree of simplification in the treatment of the vertical drop-shaped voids, it nevertheless retains both a careful search for plastic effects, as in the shallow concavity of the intermediate lobes, and an elegant stylistic handling. Thus the exemplar can be assigned to the mid of the I century AD in consideration of the presence of Julio-Claudian influxes, like the sober execution of the delicate and careful carving, together with elements belonging to the Flavian period, such as the interruption of the central incision on the second crown and the deeply cut grooves.