Spiral column shaft

Spiral column shaft carved in Numidian marble from which only the lower astragal is missing. The exemplar is almost intact and in excellent state of preservation, with elegant spiral flutings – separated by sharp crests - that wrap around the shaft. The marble employed is a monochrome variety of “Giallo antico” (Marmor Numidicum), with a fairly uniform background colour and with reddish-ochre streaks, which was extracted in Numidia from quarries of imperial property. It appears in Diocletian’s Edict on Prices as one of the most expensive qualities of marble, and it was employed in Rome in private contexts since the II century BC as well as for decorative veneering until the end of the III century AD, when coloured, streaked marbles of lesser quality begun to be preferred.