Corinthian Capital - Marble - Italy - 16th Century

This architectural element is a marble capital dating from the 16th century. It has all the characteristics of the Corinthian order, one of the three Greek architectural orders, the whole of which is mainly determined by a great wealth of ornaments and a capital decorated with two rows of acanthus leaves. Acanthus is a southern plant with ample, supple and deeply cut leaves that the Greeks used as an ornament for their funerary steles. It was from the 5th century BC that they chose it to compose their third type of capital, the Corinthian, which follows the Doric and Ionic types. We see this order used in particular in the construction of the temple of Zeus in Athens, the Olympieion. The capital is also characterized by the flat face at the back which was to be integral with the wall. We can also distinguish the traces of the artist's compass on the top. In its classical form, the Corinthian capital consists of two registers of stemless acanthus leaves, with a wide base and slightly inclined at their top. Above the rows of acanthus, two facing volutes unfold under each of the angles of the abacus. In their center, two other smaller volutes, the caulicoles, face each other. The abacus itself protrudes at the angles, is curved and decorated with a flower on each of the faces of the capital. Our capital has these different elements while having the particularities of being sculpted on three faces and having its leaves worked with a trephine. Used since Antiquity, the trephine is a tool used in sculpture which allows to reach recesses, clear difficult to access parts and rough out grooves of small diameter. Slow and precise, it is intended for very fragile places and hard materials such as wood, stone and marble. Its use here reinforces the splendor of this creation sculpted in marble.