Physical description
Carved Column, walnut wood.
Place of Origin
Calabria, Italy (possibly, made)
Sicily, Italy (possibly, made)
Date
1200-1250 (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Walnut wood
Dimensions
Height: 216.9 cm without base, Diameter: 27.9 cm, Weight: 303 kg Including base/frame
Object history note
The column has a circular shaft and a squared capital. The four faces of the capital show two peacocks face to face, the prophet Jeremiah carrying a scroll inscribed 'IFREMIA', a fruit tree, and a tree in flower. On the shaft of the column below the annulet are two flying birds pecking at hunches of grapes, a bird pecking at a bunch of grapes, a rosette, and a bird pecking at a bunch of grapes. The abacus is decorated on two sides with acanthus foliage and a rosette, and on the remaining sides with a chevron and diaper motif, and the astragal is carved on three sides with strips of acanthus foliage separated by a decorated band, and on the fourth side with a chevron motif.
The height of this and the companion columns appears to have been reduced at the base. The column was originally pigmented, and, like its companions, shows traces of red, green and yellow paint and white priming. The couchant lion attached to the base of the column, although undoubtedly part of the original ensemble, was only fixed in this position in 1949: its lower parts are rotted by damp and its right foreleg is missing.
It is not clear where these columns were made. They are certainly Southern Italian or Sicilian, and may be from Calabria. The V&A acquired this column in 1886 from G. Pepe in Naples.
Historical context note
Church furnishings carved from wood from this date are very rare, partly because wood does not survive as well as stone, but also because stones such as marble were seen as the more prestigious material, and thus better suited to a church interior.
Descriptive line
Carved column, walnut wood, southern Italy (Calabria?) or Sicily, 1150-1200
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1886. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1887. pp.32
Tavernor Perry, J. 'Some remains of a wooden ambone in the Victoria and Albert Museum', in Burlington Magazine. XXV. 1914. pp. 291-4
Toesca, P. Storia dell' Arte Italiana. I. 1927. pp.1143
Longhurst, M.H. 'Quatre colonees avec chapiteaux sculptes du XIIe. Siecle.' In Cahiers d'Art. 1930. pp. 85-90
Steinburg, L.H. 'A portrait of Constance of Sicily', in Journal of the Warburg Institute. I. 1938. pp. 249-61
Venturi, A. Storia dell' Arte Italiano III. 1904. pp. 379
De Francovich, G. 'Wiligelmo da Modena e gli Inizii dell Scultura Romanica in Francia e in Spagna' in Rivista del R. Istituo d'Archeologia e Storia dell Arte. VII. 1940. pp. 257
Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1964. pp. 7-9
Arnoldi, Francesco Negri. 'Commentari' Scultura Italiana al Victoria and Albert Museum I & II. anno XXI, June- July. 1970. pp. 19- 23
Arnoldi, Francesco Negri. 'Materiali per lo studis della scultura trecentesca in Sicilia II.' in Prospettina LII. 1988. pp. 60-62. fig. 36-41.
Williamson, Paul. Catalogue of Romanesque Sculpture. Victoria & Albert Museum, London 1983, p. 69
Subjects depicted
Birds; Trees; Foliage; Scrolls; Diaper-work; Acanthus; Grapes; Rosettes; Vines; Chevron; Jeremiah
Categories
Sculpture; Architecture
Collection code
SCP
