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

White marble

Max. h. 31 cm; lower diam. 24 cm; max. w. abacus 28 cm

End of the II cent. AD


Report

Corinthian column capital

Corinthian column capital highly eroded and with several fractures; the corners and the molded sides of the abacus are broken away, like the helices and the volutes.

The kalathos is dressed with eight, well spaced acanthus leaves with a large central spine, which is slightly widened at the top, flanked by a pair of deep, almost vertical grooves, and has a thin median line corresponding to the axis dividing the leaf in two sections. On both the upper part of the leaf and between the lower lobes there are two vertical drill holes that indicate, in a schematic manner and with a scarcely naturalistic handling, the voids separating the lobes. These have an indented, roughly outlined contour and their number is reduced, thus losing their structural significance as well as their naturalistic resemblance. On the leaves of the second crown (h. 18 cm) the grooves do not reach the bottom part of the kalathos (h. with rim 26 cm), instead they end at the level of the middle lobes of the first crown leaves (h. 10 cm): the space between the latter is thus left plain and empty.

From behind the lower leaves emerges a pair of excessively thick cauliculi, which have the shaft marked by deep diagonal carvings and the rim cut with a thin crown of sepals simply divided by two transversal lines; from here spring the calyxes with long acanthus leaves, now broken. The helices and the volutes are today completely missing, however they must have been rather short and compressed under the abacus. Behind the central leaf of the second crown there remain the traces of the rosette stem with its plain, oval leaf.

The molded sides of the abacus and the rosettes are wholly lost.

Considering the stylistic features discussed, such as the shortened volutes and helices, the reduced number of the lobes, the scarce naturalistic resemblance, the simplified forms as well as the wide and deep use of the drill, yet at the same time the presence of some characteristic elements like the stem of the abacus rosette, our exemplar can be dated between the end of the II and the beginning of the III century AD, especially because of its lack of plasticism in the handling of the leafy elements.