DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61666#0032
nare Nuovo. The absence of any animal filling among the scrolls of grape-vine in
our stuccoes is exceptional at so late a date as the sixth century.
The canthari are ubiquitous at this period and with this function, yet what grows
from them is more apt to be the acanthus than the grape. The sprays springing out
from beneath them are common enough too, but they are usually sprays of acanthus
even though a grape-vine grows above. This hybrid inconsistency is explainable, no
doubt, by the custom of using the acanthus bed as a basis for all sorts of elements
in the decoration; even figures rest on the acanthus in certain cases at Ravenna, e. g.,
in the mosaics of the Orthodox Baptistry and in those of the so-called Mausoleum
of Galla Placidia. Examples of the acanthus base with the grape-vine above are to
be seen on the pillars from Acre at St. Mark’s, Venice, and on the ivory episcopal
chair at Ravenna. The consistent use in our stuccoes of sprays of grape-vine below
the canthari is a survival, or exaggeration, of Hellenistic naturalism, unusual at this
late date.
The acanthus, as has been described, forms two dissimilar types of desings: the scroll
and the candelabrum. The scrollwork, whether decorating a band or spreading in
all directions over a given space, is very similar to the scrollwork in the mosaics of
Ravenna. The stucco acanthus of the window soffit needs only to be colored gold
against a blue ground or green on a white ground to look like its counterparts in
the mosaics of Sant’ Apollinare in Classe and elsewhere. The acanthus scrollwork
with stems like cornucopias is a striking but by no means rare variety. It is difficult
to tell for sure when the horn-shaped wrapping of the stem is actually regarded by
the designer as a horn9. For instance, in the decoration of a Roman relief ascribed to
the time of the Republic, published by Gusman10, the vine takes a horn shape though
it is unlikely that a horn is consciously intended. But there is no doubt that the com-
bination of cornucopia and acanthus was consciously employed by Pompeiian deco-
rators and earlier still was known in Greek ornament11. By the sixth century after
Christ it became very popular. It occurs in Egypt and Syria12, but is most common
at Constantinople13 and at the places reached by the Proconnesian marble trade
(Philippi14, Parenzo16, Ravenna), for it was a favorite motive for carved capitals and
friezes. The combination of cornucopia and acanthus appears in a somewhat diffe-
rent form in the lower border of the mosaics of the church of Sts. Cosmas and
Damianus at Rome. In the Adriatic region it retained its vogue long enough to enter
abundantly into the decoration of St. Mark’s at Venice16.
It is appropriate to insert here some mention of the other use of cornucopias in our
stuccoes, which is a less usual one. This use of horns on two sides in forming lo-
zenges finds its absolute counterpart in the stucco decoration of a soffit of the left
nave arcade of the cathedral of Parenzo though the filling and the other elements
combined with these lozenges are somewhat different at Parenzo17. These stuccoes
at Parenzo are the work obviously of the same school, perhaps of the same artists,
as flourished at Ravenna. In the case of this particular ornamental element, the lo-
28
our stuccoes is exceptional at so late a date as the sixth century.
The canthari are ubiquitous at this period and with this function, yet what grows
from them is more apt to be the acanthus than the grape. The sprays springing out
from beneath them are common enough too, but they are usually sprays of acanthus
even though a grape-vine grows above. This hybrid inconsistency is explainable, no
doubt, by the custom of using the acanthus bed as a basis for all sorts of elements
in the decoration; even figures rest on the acanthus in certain cases at Ravenna, e. g.,
in the mosaics of the Orthodox Baptistry and in those of the so-called Mausoleum
of Galla Placidia. Examples of the acanthus base with the grape-vine above are to
be seen on the pillars from Acre at St. Mark’s, Venice, and on the ivory episcopal
chair at Ravenna. The consistent use in our stuccoes of sprays of grape-vine below
the canthari is a survival, or exaggeration, of Hellenistic naturalism, unusual at this
late date.
The acanthus, as has been described, forms two dissimilar types of desings: the scroll
and the candelabrum. The scrollwork, whether decorating a band or spreading in
all directions over a given space, is very similar to the scrollwork in the mosaics of
Ravenna. The stucco acanthus of the window soffit needs only to be colored gold
against a blue ground or green on a white ground to look like its counterparts in
the mosaics of Sant’ Apollinare in Classe and elsewhere. The acanthus scrollwork
with stems like cornucopias is a striking but by no means rare variety. It is difficult
to tell for sure when the horn-shaped wrapping of the stem is actually regarded by
the designer as a horn9. For instance, in the decoration of a Roman relief ascribed to
the time of the Republic, published by Gusman10, the vine takes a horn shape though
it is unlikely that a horn is consciously intended. But there is no doubt that the com-
bination of cornucopia and acanthus was consciously employed by Pompeiian deco-
rators and earlier still was known in Greek ornament11. By the sixth century after
Christ it became very popular. It occurs in Egypt and Syria12, but is most common
at Constantinople13 and at the places reached by the Proconnesian marble trade
(Philippi14, Parenzo16, Ravenna), for it was a favorite motive for carved capitals and
friezes. The combination of cornucopia and acanthus appears in a somewhat diffe-
rent form in the lower border of the mosaics of the church of Sts. Cosmas and
Damianus at Rome. In the Adriatic region it retained its vogue long enough to enter
abundantly into the decoration of St. Mark’s at Venice16.
It is appropriate to insert here some mention of the other use of cornucopias in our
stuccoes, which is a less usual one. This use of horns on two sides in forming lo-
zenges finds its absolute counterpart in the stucco decoration of a soffit of the left
nave arcade of the cathedral of Parenzo though the filling and the other elements
combined with these lozenges are somewhat different at Parenzo17. These stuccoes
at Parenzo are the work obviously of the same school, perhaps of the same artists,
as flourished at Ravenna. In the case of this particular ornamental element, the lo-
28