Pair Of Termini In Marble And Alabastro Fiorito

Pair of Termini in marble and alabastro fiorito a rosa.
Greek Verdo antico marble, white Carrara marble, alabastro fiorito a rosa.
Italy.
Early 20th century.
h. 47,6 in. ; d. 8,6 in. ; w. 14,1 in. 

Pair of termini in alabaster fiorito a rosa, Greek verdo antico marble and white Carrara marble.

The Terminus is :

“[...] a pilaster-like support, the fundamental form of which is characterized by tapering downwards in a manner recalling an inverted Obelisk. The name is derived from the fact that similar constructions were used in the Antique as milestones and to mark the Terminations of fields, etc.” (Franz Sales Meyer, A Handbook of Ornament, New York, 1898, p. 225)

Not only polychromous, thanks to the combination of marbles from Italy, Greece and Anatolia, those termini, unlike a mere pilaster, offer a volume almost equal as that of a plain column, thanks to a remarkable craftmanship : especially the projection of the shaft and the numerous details of their modénature : torus, fillets, scrolls, astragals, and so on.

Few scratches near the plinth.

Sources

Faustino Corsi, Delle pietre antiche, Rome, 1845.

Franz Sales Meyer, A Handbook of Ornament, New York, 1898.

Henri William Pullen, Manuale dei marmi romani antichi, Rome, 2015.

Jaccques Dubarry de Lassale, Identification des marbres, Paris, 2016.