Object type
capital
Culture/period
Late antiquity
Materials
marble
Technique
sculpting, drillwork
Mint
Production date
400 / 500
Seu
Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Olèrdola
Current location
Centre Interpretació
Archaeological site
Olèrdola. Església de Sant Miquel (sector 06)
Township
Olèrdola (Alt Penedès)
Dimensions
171,2 x 180 x 131 mm
Description
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Capital derived from the Corinthian style, dated around the 5th century BC and found in 1969, from the filling in the walled gate with a horseshoe arch of the Pre-Romanesque church of Sant Miquel. The capital, of the central chalice type, is furnished with very schematized acanthus leaves that evolve into volutes in the corners. On each of the volutes is a schematic palmette and also in the central part of the draft, a chalice surrounded by leaves. One side has a vertical recess which has affected most of the decoration and which could be attributed to the reuse of the capital to be fitted to a wall or column.
These Corinthian capitals are a variant of this style, with a markedly vegetal character, used mostly in household-type architecture. Thus, it seems likely that it came from a late Roman villa situated on Penedès Plain and later was taken to Olèrdola to decorate the church or other building. However we cannot rule out that it originally formed part of a building in the monumental area, although archaeological data of this chronological stage are scarce.
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Olèrdola
Omeka ID
2003