Corinthian column capital

Corinthian column capital with two crowns of acanthus leaves (h.: first crown 10 cm; second crown 17.5 cm) all broken at the top and characterized by a large midrib, which is wider at the top, flanked by deep grooves and divided in two by a thin incised line; on both the upper part of the leaves and between the inferior lobes there is a pair of drill holes indicating, in a schematic manner and with little naturalistic resemblance, the voids separating the lobes. The acanthus leaves of the second crown show at the centre of the midrib, this again wider at the top, a thin incised line that crosses the middle of the leaf without reaching its bottom end.

The cauliculi, well separated from the adjoining leaves, have a single central ridge and are rimmed by a rather thin fascia with two diagonal incisions. The helices, very short and simplified, are flat with the inner end of the coil slightly projecting outwards; the volutes are broken.

The abacus rosette is devoid of its stem, while the whole of the abacus is now missing, as all the corners and the molded sides are broken away.

Our example is typologically close to some Corinthian capitals from Ostia (Pensabene P., I capitelli, in Scavi di Ostia, vol. VII, Roma 1973, pp. 77-78 nn. 316-319, p. 227) for the absence of the rosette’s stem, and probably of the rosette itself, for the shortened helices and volutes, for the presence of a single ridge on the cauliculi, for the simplified forms as well as for the light and dark play obtained with large use of the drill: it is thus datable to the first half of the III century AD.