Moissac - West Side - W03MS59

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  Moissac
West Side
W03MS59

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W03MS59N N

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Capital with acanthus foliations

Two broadly laid out garlands of acanthus foliations, with a clear demarcation between them, are arranged round the calathos of the capital. They follow the model of the Corinthianizing capitals of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse (where these foliations stylistically derive from the copy of a capital of the second half of the 2nd century). The middle axis of each leaf is marked by a tripartite vertical spine, from which a little ball (now destroyed) hangs; beside it five-lobed leaves sprout on both sides of the concave spine, while a small but complete leaflet sprouts from below their curvature. This accomplished play with the combination of the constituent elements of the acanthus leaf is characteristic of the procedure of the Romanesque sculptor: the analytical composition is based on the accumulation of details, which are varied to match the ensemble to which they are joined. The elongated arms of the volutes are scored with vertical grooves. The annulet at the foot of the capital is decorated with a row of recessed lozenges, reminiscent of ancient bead-and-reel ornament; they are divided from each other by thin, vertical lines .
On the east and west sides the console block is decorated with a chi rho or the letters XPO; both are monograms of Christ. They are undoubtedly to be interpreted as the sign of the Creator, who also created the plants.
The bevelled impost frieze is elegantly decorated with a row of four-petal flower heads with alternately concave and convex pistils. The cross-shaped and diagonal arrangement of the row of large sepals over which they are placed is a motif peculiar to Moissac. The overlapping semicircles on the impost block once again point to their model in the high altar of the Basilica of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse.

Saint-Sernin Toulouse four-petal-flower chi-rho cross