Fragment Of Decorative Column In Marble - Italy - Circa 1500

This charming piece is a fragment of a marble column. Composed of a pair of pinecones; resting on a base with a garland of pearls; on both sides, between the two pine cones are two roses and on the bottom of the piece acanthus leaves are visible as well as a climbing plant. From the Renaissance period, this fragment is inspired by Antiquity. Indeed, several similar elements dating from the Roman period were found during excavations. Sculpted at the top of ornamental pillars during the Roman Empire, these decorative elements were of various shapes and were taken up by Renaissance sculptors to decorate wealthy homes. The ornamental vocabulary of our piece echoes a particular type of this rarer type of column (Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (1977), p. 52). The Sir John Soane's Museum in London has several ancient fragments similar in design to our piece. The rarity of this object, its state of preservation and the finesse of its carving make our piece an exceptional and atypical object.