Fragment of Corinthian column capital

Fragment of a Corinthian column capital bearing only two, partially preserved, leaves of the first crown which are marked by a strikingly careful handling. The leaves have five lobes, each bearing five well-carved and lanceolate points; the flat midrib is emphasized by a central thin incised line and is sided by lateral grooves that open up into limp concavities, visible in both the upper and lower lobes, granting plasticism and naturalism to the foliage. The utmost point of the lower lobe touches without overlap the first point of the next lobe, thus creating elongated drop-shaped voids, inclined and followed by another void in the shape of an open triangle. The lobes’ typological and stylistic characteristics, their soft, plastic and naturalistic handling, as well as the lanceolate shape of the points and, above all, the voids’ inclination are all distinctive features of the Corinthian capitals produced until the middle of the I century AD.