Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990
111
Capital from a Pilaster
The damage is extensive, especially at the ends of the volutes and leaves. The bottom has been cut away, as if the capital has been reused in a smaller setting.
At the time of acquisition or soon thereafter, the pilaster was said to have derived from the Ara Pacis Augustae. The Corinthian pilaster capitals on the outside precinct wall of the Ara Pacis, however, have broader, flatter leaves, without the bullet-shaped vertical cuttings and with less complex stems. The fragments of the internal pilasters were quite different (Kähler, 1963, pp. 66-69, pl. on p. 68; Moretti, 1948, I, p. 113, pl. E [general view as reconstructed], pp. 168-171).
The date of this pilaster capital would seem to be in the second century A.D., and stylistic details are similar to those of the capitals at the Forum Baths of Ostia (Heintze, 1971, pp. 59-60, pl. 56). On the Pantheon capitals the leaves have fan patterns, while the Harvard capital has more parallel channels (see generally, Heilmeyer, 1970, pl. 55). The detailing of the Forum of Trajan anticipates this pilaster capital (Heilmeyer, 1970, pl. 52); in turn the Temple of Vesta in the Forum anticipates Severan details (Heilmeyer, 1970, pl. 59).
Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer
