Carved column, walnut wood, Southern Italy (Calabria?) or Sicily, 1150-1200

Column, carved of walnut.

This column has a circular shaft and squared capital. Many decorative patterns and motifs embellish the column. The four faces of the capital show the prophet Zechariah, a seated male figure holding two heads, foliage and a fig tree.

The abacus is decorated with chevrons, rosettes and a diaper pattern on two sides; on the the third the carving is effaced; the fourth is uncarved. The astragal is carved with acanthus on three sides and arcading on the fourth. For orginal context see P. Williamson, 'Catalogue of Romanesque Sculpture' (V&A publication, London, 1983), p. 76.

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.

This is one of four columns, two of them supported by lions, which probably supported a raised pulpit (or ambo). The ornament includes figures of the prophets Jeremiah and Zachariah, believed to have foretold the Coming of Christ and his Passion. Also represented are St Paul with his sword, the archangel Michael slaying the dragon, and St Stephen.

269A-1886