Winged hybrid beasts

As in other capitals of the cloister, this one too is characterized by antithetically confronted pairs of animals. The same motif is repeated on all sides.
The motif consists of two winged hybrid beasts with the head and legs of a lion. A plant rises at the centre between each of these two confronted beasts. It ends in a small palmette and could also be interpreted as the tail of the hybrid beasts.
Both the central plant stem and the wings of the beasts are ornamented with bands of beading.
Winged lions are well-known motifs in ancient Persian art and more generally in the art of the Near East. In Romanesque art they are newly interpreted; they are used to create a fantastic world of hybrid beasts with a moralizing character.
The impost plate is decorated with five-leaf palmettes, alternately enclosed in a tendril above or below.