half capital with interlace and hands, unknown maker from France

Episode 208 Jan-2010, Natalie Svacina, Education Intern I’m David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. A Romanesque half-capital in the Spencer’s collection was probably carved in the Auvergne region of central France in the late 11th or early 12th century. Originally serving as the crowning element of a column, the Spencer’s half-capital consists of three carved sides. The lower section of each side contains a repeated pattern of grooved ribbons forming interlocking circles, a type of ornamentation known as interlace, common in Anglo-Saxon and Celtic design of the Early Medieval period and surviving in this later Romanesque work. The top section of the half-capital depicts a stylized pattern of leaves, a Medieval motif ultimately derived from the acanthus leaf decoration of ancient Roman Corinthian capitals. In the center of two of the half-capital’s faces, an open palm points downward, while on the third side, a hand clutches a vine. In Christian iconography, a hand serves as a symbol for God. This half-capital may have been located in the cloisters of a monastery, where it would have helped the monks to imagine Biblical scenes referring to the hand of God. With thanks to Natalie Svacina for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.