Ionic capital with neck of acanthus-like leaves

Fully preserved yet slightly chipped Ionic capital, showing a neck (h. 5 cm) decorated by a row of acanthus-like leaves, linked to one another the base, behind which emerge the slightly curved tips of some water leaves. Noteworthy is the absence of the astragal cut with beads and reels, here substituted by the acanthus-like leaves’ tips, which are stylized, bulging and marked by drill holes. The echinus (h. 4,5 cm) is carved with an Ionic ovolo made of deeply undercut eggs and darts; the lateral eggs are almost completely covered by the volutes’ half-palmettes, while the latter are reduced to only two lightly incised lobes, bent downwards but with their tips curved upwards. The lower margin of the Ionic ovolo coincides with the imaginary line connecting the centre of the volutes’ spiral.

The volutes’ channel is rectilinear, devoid of any vegetal ornament and it rolls up into the volutes with a gently concave strip. The spiral has again a gently concave strip bordered by slightly protruding margins and it terminates in the middle with a stylized rounded rosette, which has central drill hole and three petals divided by shallow incised lines (diam. of volutes 10 cm).

The side bolsters (w. 26,5 cm; h. 6,5 cm) are wrapped up in large water leaves, with central ridge and rounded edges, at whose intervals appear the tips of other, thinner leaves; all are held together by a central plat. The square-shaped abacus (h. 5 cm; side 29 cm) has the lower part slightly receding, while the upper one takes up the appearance of a tablet. Considering such features and the comparison with some capitals from Ostia, it is possible to chronologically set our example within the III century AD.