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  • image S59

Fragment of Roman architectural carving: the top member of an architrave(?)

Mid-third century or perhaps later

Italian marble

Height: 11cm
Width: 19cm

Museum number: S59

Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 101help-vermeule-catalogue-number

On display: Study
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house. For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit

Curatorial note

From top to bottom of this small fragment the worn carving comprises a fillet, ovolo, and astragal - the latter two both enriched with reversed acanthus leaves.

This fragment is probably the top moulding of an architrave block, although only with an exact parallel could we be absolutely positive. Its date is certainly not earlier than the mid-third century and might be later, judging from the carving of the leaves and the form of the little leaf ovolo. The arrangement, creating the effect of folded or broken acanthus at the transition from ovolo to astragal, is a clumsy violation of the normal traditions of Roman enrichment and produces a singularly crowded, illogically unpleasant result.

Provenance help-art-provenance

Unrecorded.


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