DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61666#0033
zenge, the Parenzo stuccoes differ from those at Ravenna, however, in two minor
ways. The lozenge fillings at Parenzo are richer leafage. The bands forming two
sides of the lozenges are three-striped, not, as at Ravenna, two-striped. The three-
striped band is one of the commonplaces of ornament. The two-striped one is by
no means common. For the latter, however, a number of parallels can be cited. First
of all, it is obligatory to cite one strikingly pertinent example, another soffit ornament
at Parenzo with lozenges formed on all four sides by two-striped bands. In spite of
the wave of three-striped ornament that swept over the Adriatic region in the Low
Ages, the two-striped lozenge maintains itself and appears with leafage akin to that
at Parenzo in the carved ornament of St. Mark’s at Venice18. Why it should persist
is more intelligible to us when we know that it was in use elsewhere. It is a motive
used in the carved ornament of Syrian churches. For our immediate purpose the
best example to give is a capital at Edessa19, for the filling on it is precisely like that
in the lozenges at Parenzo. Probably the connection was one established through
the textile trade, in which Syria and Persia then enjoyed great prestige.
There is another element in the ornament of the stuccoes of San Vitale which
exemplifies this relationship even better. It is the candelabrum of acanthus. This is,
in part, a logical outgrowth of the acanthus sprays of Greek decoration. Usually,
from the two symmetrically placed leaves curving out laterally, which form the base
of the design in question, the Greek decorator developed a much more elaborate
formation, piling up other leaves above these, arranged either heraldically20 or as a
central spray. By a primary combination he was able to build up a full acanthus
spray with symmetrically placed horizontal leaves and a central upright leaf21, to
give a simple tripartite element such as we have in one instance on the wall under
the trellised vault. But in its further elaboration the pile of acanthus became more
and more suggestive of the “sacred tree” of ancient oriental derivation. Out of the
two sources, Greek and oriental, came a more schematized use of the paired leaves,
with a stiffness more like our design than is anything Greek, such as appears in
Sassanian ornament, e. g., as used on the capitals of Tag-e-Bostan22, where the
middle connecting stalk is, however, far more pronounced than that in the stuccoes
of San Vitale could have been even before these suffered so much. The greater ela-
boration of our candelabra is paralleled in a side decoration of the niche at Ί ag-e-
Bostan23, and also in the mosaic decorations on the walls of the church of the Nati-
vity at Bethlehem, though in the latter there is such extensive employment of con-
ventional internal decorative detail as almost completely to conceal the basic form.
Like other of the designs, the candelabrum is paralleled in Constantinople, as on a
capital of the church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus34; but this parallel only serves to
show how much more nearly, in the case of this element, the Ravenna stuccoes ap-
proach the Sassanian work than they do the Constantinopolitan.
The course of laurel leaves found in our stuccoes is frequent in Early Christian
ornament. We find it in the sarcophagus decoration of Ravenna20, on elaborate
29
ways. The lozenge fillings at Parenzo are richer leafage. The bands forming two
sides of the lozenges are three-striped, not, as at Ravenna, two-striped. The three-
striped band is one of the commonplaces of ornament. The two-striped one is by
no means common. For the latter, however, a number of parallels can be cited. First
of all, it is obligatory to cite one strikingly pertinent example, another soffit ornament
at Parenzo with lozenges formed on all four sides by two-striped bands. In spite of
the wave of three-striped ornament that swept over the Adriatic region in the Low
Ages, the two-striped lozenge maintains itself and appears with leafage akin to that
at Parenzo in the carved ornament of St. Mark’s at Venice18. Why it should persist
is more intelligible to us when we know that it was in use elsewhere. It is a motive
used in the carved ornament of Syrian churches. For our immediate purpose the
best example to give is a capital at Edessa19, for the filling on it is precisely like that
in the lozenges at Parenzo. Probably the connection was one established through
the textile trade, in which Syria and Persia then enjoyed great prestige.
There is another element in the ornament of the stuccoes of San Vitale which
exemplifies this relationship even better. It is the candelabrum of acanthus. This is,
in part, a logical outgrowth of the acanthus sprays of Greek decoration. Usually,
from the two symmetrically placed leaves curving out laterally, which form the base
of the design in question, the Greek decorator developed a much more elaborate
formation, piling up other leaves above these, arranged either heraldically20 or as a
central spray. By a primary combination he was able to build up a full acanthus
spray with symmetrically placed horizontal leaves and a central upright leaf21, to
give a simple tripartite element such as we have in one instance on the wall under
the trellised vault. But in its further elaboration the pile of acanthus became more
and more suggestive of the “sacred tree” of ancient oriental derivation. Out of the
two sources, Greek and oriental, came a more schematized use of the paired leaves,
with a stiffness more like our design than is anything Greek, such as appears in
Sassanian ornament, e. g., as used on the capitals of Tag-e-Bostan22, where the
middle connecting stalk is, however, far more pronounced than that in the stuccoes
of San Vitale could have been even before these suffered so much. The greater ela-
boration of our candelabra is paralleled in a side decoration of the niche at Ί ag-e-
Bostan23, and also in the mosaic decorations on the walls of the church of the Nati-
vity at Bethlehem, though in the latter there is such extensive employment of con-
ventional internal decorative detail as almost completely to conceal the basic form.
Like other of the designs, the candelabrum is paralleled in Constantinople, as on a
capital of the church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus34; but this parallel only serves to
show how much more nearly, in the case of this element, the Ravenna stuccoes ap-
proach the Sassanian work than they do the Constantinopolitan.
The course of laurel leaves found in our stuccoes is frequent in Early Christian
ornament. We find it in the sarcophagus decoration of Ravenna20, on elaborate
29