CHAPITAU WITH THE ARMS OF THE SAVOIE-ACHAÏE Piedmont,... Lot 3

CHAPITAU WITH THE ARMS OF THE SAVOIE-ACHAÏE Piedmont, 14th century Stone H. 33 cm, W. 41 cm, D. 41 cm Arms of the Savoie-Achaïe: shield with a cross, with a cotice on top This geminated capital shows on its main side the shield of the Savoie-Achaïe which bore their arms of gules with a silver cross, with an azure cotice on top. And on the adjacent side, separated by a mascaron at the corner, a fleur-de-lys. If the stylized face still depends on the aesthetics of the Romanesque capitals, the leafy branches that adorn the other three corners are already very naturalistic. Our capital can indeed be dated to the 14th century. It probably comes from Piedmont where the youngest branch of the princes of Achaia of the House of Savoy was possessed. When Philippe de Savoie, lord of Piedmont, married Isabelle de Villehardouin in 1301, she brought him the principality of Achaia as a dowry. The lineage, which died out a century later in 1418, nevertheless left a lasting mark on this territory of northern Italy through intense construction and renovation activity. The famous Palazzo Madama in Turin, an ancient Roman gateway that they had transformed into a castle in the 14th century before the 18th-century renovations we know today, is one of their most famous works. The sculptors' workshops of the region were then accustomed to depicting the arms of their patrons on the faces of the capitals, with rather picturesque corner figures, as can be seen here or in Asti Cathedral (Fig. 1).