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Fragment of the abacus of a composite capital (?)
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Fragment of the abacus of a composite capital (?)
69-96 AD
Flavian
Flavian
Luna marble
Height: 12cm
Width: 18cm
Width: 18cm
Museum number: M750
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 51
On display: Dome Area
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
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Curatorial note
A small fragment from the upper right corner of a composite or Corinthian pier or pilaster capital, both possibilities being difficult to ascertain from the size of the fragment itself. The abacus remains at the top and is carried around the right corner; the enrichment beneath comprises stopped fluting and traces of an oak leaf on cornucopia, foliage at the centre and right. Another fragment in Soane's collection SM S22 (Vermeule 52) appears to be the lower continuation of this piece and came from Tatham (see note to that entry), however, although it may be likely, there is no evidence that this piece came via the same source.
From a very elaborate Flavian capital with Flavian fluting and mouldings characteristic of enrichment and architectural detail from the palace complex of the Palatine. A close comparison for this and fragment SM S22 is manifested by the pilaster capital etched by Piranesi1, from a drawing made near the church of Santa Maria in Monterone, Rome, and for general arrangement of motive compare the small capital with vegetable volutes in the Museo di Aquileia2 .
1 Della magnificenza de architettura de' Romani, 1761, pl. XIX. J. Wilton-Ely, Giovanni Battista Piranesi: The Complete Etchings - an Illustrated Catalogue, 1994, no. 779.
2 V. Scrinari, I Capitelli romani di Aquileia, Padua, 1952 no. 63.
From a very elaborate Flavian capital with Flavian fluting and mouldings characteristic of enrichment and architectural detail from the palace complex of the Palatine. A close comparison for this and fragment SM S22 is manifested by the pilaster capital etched by Piranesi1, from a drawing made near the church of Santa Maria in Monterone, Rome, and for general arrangement of motive compare the small capital with vegetable volutes in the Museo di Aquileia2 .
1 Della magnificenza de architettura de' Romani, 1761, pl. XIX. J. Wilton-Ely, Giovanni Battista Piranesi: The Complete Etchings - an Illustrated Catalogue, 1994, no. 779.
2 V. Scrinari, I Capitelli romani di Aquileia, Padua, 1952 no. 63.
Provenance
Unrecorded although it may have been collected in Rome by Charles Heathcote Tatham for the architect Henry Holland during the 1790s, see SM S22 which did come via Tatham and may be an adjacent piece of the same column.
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