The Church of Sancta Sophia, Constantinople: A Study of Byzantine BuildingLethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
Religion
The Church of Sancta Sophia, Constantinople: A Study of Byzantine Building
Lethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
Ayasofya Müzesi
Salzenberg also figures two capitals, now on the porphyry columns
at the east porch. These are comparatively small, and may possibly
have belonged to some position in the interior of the church, such
as Justinian’s first ambo. The form is that of a basket with four
doves perched on the rim, and crosses between. Doves associated with
crosses symbolized the Church. Now in St. Clemente at Rome there are
two capitals of this kind which belonged to the ciborium, set up as
the inscription shows while Hormisdas was pope (514-523), they are
figured by Cattaneo, Fig. 7, who says they obviously were sculptured by
Greek chisels. It is thus extremely possible that ours may have been
late additions to the pre-Justinian church, where they also may have
belonged to the ciborium. Rohault de Fleury believed that this form of
capital was intended to represent an offerings basket.
[Illustration: FIG. 57.--Rudimentary Form of Capital in Gynaeceum. Type
IV.]
To these Bird and Basket capitals, type V., may be added varieties
of the great class of derivatives from the Corinthian of which this
is in fact one. These were in general use before the block type of
capital was developed. We will here only mention two of these acanthus
capitals. Those in which the leaves are set upright on the stem of the
shaft we will call Byzantine Corinthian and type VI. Those in which the
leaves turn over and bend round the capital we will, with Mr. Ruskin,
call “Wind-blown acanthus,” and type VII.
_Distribution and Dates of Capitals._--We have referred before to our
belief that Constantinople was a marble working centre from which
sculptured marbles were dispersed to all parts of the Roman world.
Having the chief types of Byzantine capitals before us it will be
convenient to consider this more fully. We suppose that as white
marble had to be bought in any case, the custom grew up of obtaining
the capitals fully wrought. Importation was, of course, a general
antique practice in regard to figure sculpture, columns, and other
objects of marble. Proconnesian marble seems to have been the common
stone of Constantinople so that it is used for the columns and capitals
of the cisterns. We believe that careful examination of the capitals
at Ravenna, Parenzo, and other Byzantine centres will show that they
are in the main of this material. As to design the capitals lying
neglected about the city, together with those _in situ_ in the churches
and cisterns, furnish a perfect museum of the types with which others
dispersed through the whole area of the empire agree in the minutest
particulars of design and workmanship.
To take the types we have mentioned:
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