Large capital in white Pyrenean marble, carved... Lot 7

Large capital in white Pyrenean marble, carved in high relief on all four sides. Each face is decorated with birds (partridge?), perched on acanthus leaves with curved ends, chest to chest and head turned upside down, pecking at fruit held in the scroll of a volute; scalloped astragal decorated with a frieze of straightened interlacing, centered on a mask with eyes bordered by thick eyelids, all different, one with an impassive expression, another with a blunt nose showing its teeth, another likewise sticking out its tongue, and a last one with a leonine face. The top is hollowed out in the center with a square mortise and a gutter, and the underside is sealed with lead. Catalonia, Roussillon, Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa workshop, first half of 12th century H. 52 - W. 45 cm - D. 45 cm (very slight damage) Provenance : - Former private collection, Italy Works consulted: - M. Durliat, La sculpture romane en Roussillon, T I et II, Perpignan, 1952 and 1958. - G. Mallet, Églises romanes oubliées du Roussillon, Montpellier, 2003. - A. Bonnery, L'Abbaye Saint-Michel de Cuixà, ed. MSM, 2005. - Exposition Paris 2005, La France romane, Musée du Louvre, p 241-242. This beautiful capital belongs unquestionably to the Romanesque art of Roussillon, which has left us numerous testimonies, not only in situ, but also outside France, as shown by the parts of cloisters reassembled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. After the golden age of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, the abbeys of Roussillon gradually lost their influence and were gradually abandoned over the following centuries. After the French Revolution, many of them housed no more than a handful of monks, and their sale as national property paved the way for the squandering of their architectural remains. Such was the case with the great cloister of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa Abbey. This cloister, all in pink marble, is limited almost exclusively to floral and zoomorphic repertoires, and its iconography is characterized by the absence of any religious themes. The style and workmanship of this capital from an old Italian collection are very much in keeping with those of the Cuxa cloister. However, the nature of the marble, another white variety of Pyrenean marble, means that it cannot be linked to this monument. Art historians have nevertheless emphasized the influence of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa's art throughout the Roussillon region, notably in Villefranche-de-Conflent and Brouilla, where white marble was also used. It is highly probable that this capital was dismantled long ago and kept for its eminently decorative character by Romanesque art enthusiasts.