ANCIENT COLUMNS, RECARVED IN THE C9. PALAZZO GRAZIOSI, PIAZZA S. CATERINA DELLA ROTA Here things get interesting. We have two white-grey marble columns of ancient provenance built into the main door frame of the C18 palazzo Graziosi which were originally unfluted and undecorated, but were recarved, plausibly (from the shallow carving) in the C9 or C10, in imitation of the foliate columns now in the presbytery of S. Prassede. Instead of four bands of leaves, we have three, and the leaves are generic, not particularly like acanthus. Were these originally part of a decorative plan in S. Prassede itself? Given the missing ring of leaves, probably not. But they clearly reflect the high prestige of the foliate columns in S. Prassede. What is the link? Where were these columns originally from, and where did their recarved versions stand before being incorporated into this door frame? Spolia questions without answers.

Strangest of all for this #SpoliaSunday excursion is this pair of #ancient #columns recarved in the C9 or C10 in imitation of the ones in #SantaPrassede, not very well. We can identify affinities, but #spolia hunters like me can rarely go further. #AncientBluesky 🏺

FOLIATE COLUMN FRAGMENT, C. 27 BCE. ANTIQUARIUM OF THE ASSESSORATO ALLA CULTURA DI ROMA S. Prassede, where six intact versions of this column are part of the presbytery, is a long way from the little antiquarium belonging to the Cultural Office of the city of Rome, which overlooks the archaeological area of the theatre of Marcellus and the monuments and temples near it, and contains pieces from the same specific area. This foliate column fragment corresponds in every particular to the ones reused in S. Prassede, and is dated by the Sovrintendenza as being from 27 BCE. So it is not impossible that this represents another column from the same set, one which met an unfortunate end, and came from a monument here. The interior of the temple of Apollo Medicus Sosianus perhaps?

This #spolia fragment matches the complete columns at #SantaPrassede - but we're down near the #theatreofMarcellus. Did these columns come from the temples of #Bellona or of #ApolloMedicus in #Rome? #AncientBluesky 🏺

ENTRANCE TO THE S. ZENO CHAPEL, C. 820. S. PRASSEDE This entrance was made by order of the church's builder, pope Paschal I, with the clear intention of echoing, on a smaller scale, the ancient imperial mausolea attached to Old St Peter's - this chapel was intended as a funerary chapel for the pope's mother Theodora Episcopa. Nothing was too good: the splendid black marble columns holding up the entablature are ancient, though their capitals are C9 and distinctly cruder than the lavish late-C2 entablature, though Paschal's masons gave it their best shot (also note the shallow and feeble attempt to carry the decoration of the front of the entablature around the C9 sides). The notable mosaic arch around the window above draws our eye upward, where it rests on the beautiful C2 sealed kantharos which contains the bones of Theodora.

#SpoliaSunday takes us into the C9 basilica of #SantaPrassede in #Rome, which was built with grandiloquent intentions by pope #Paschal I in the early C9. Part of his program here was to evoke the splendour of #Constantine's basilicas using similar materials, including #spolia. #AncientBluesky 🏺

Hoy, la Estación Romana está en Santa Prassede. Fr. Parsch habla de nuestra alma de María y nuestro alma de Judas... #AlmasCristianas #SantaPrassede https://fefd.link/Mir3p