Fragment of two-faced pluteus with sapling and paired columns

The marble fragment with two-faced sapling ornamentation and interlaced knots is, along with another artifact preserved in the Lapidarium of Palazzo Venezia (inv. 13604), part of an original liturgical decoration, most likely a presbyterial enclosure. The two qualitatively comparable fragments are characterized by the same iconographic scheme. In this fragment, the sapling, the arbor vitae of the heavenly Jerusalem, with profiled podded leaves and pendulous heart-shaped leaflets that allude to the dactyliferous palm as a symbol of resurrection and heavenly surroundings (Frugoni 1990; Spera 2000), is flanked by two Solomonic columns configuring a twin aedicule with crosses under arches (Romanini 1975; Roperti 2007; Casartelli Novelli 2019), a theme dating to the early Christian period and later renewed when it was adopted at the presbyterial enclosure of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican by Gregory III (731–741) (Ballardini 2008, fig. 25) and part of the Carolingian tradition from the late eighth century—with its complex allusion to the gates of Paradise and the crucifixion, among others (Roth-Rubi 2015)—and associated with artifacts such as well heads, tomb slabs, antependia, and various pieces of ecclesiastical furnishings.
The consistency of the iconographic motifs and formal treatment makes it plausible that the two fragments of the two-sided pluteus belong to the same presbyterial enclosure context, which likely bore the iconography of the cross under an arch on one side and, on the other, a woven decorative motif common since the Carolingian period and consisting of knots of bisected wicker ribbon with ogival eyelets intersected by diagonal lines, within a sawtooth frame.
In particular, the design of the hypothetically reconstructed interlaced ornament in the form of knotted circles forming Solomon’s knots (Latini 2003, fig. 25) will have to be reconsidered on the basis of comparison with slab fragments from Santa Maria in Domnica (Melucco Vaccaro 1974, figs. 133–134; Ranucci 2003, figs. 7–8), San Giovanni a Porta Latina (Melucco Vaccaro 1974, fig. 35a), or Santa Maria in Trastevere (Bull-Simonsen Einaudi 2001, fig. 8) since the upper right half of the fragment clearly contains a knot, producing a skein of circles with knotted ogival eyelets intersected by diagonal lines.
The different distribution of the ornamentation on the two sides of the pluteus has led some to assume that the side with the interlaced decoration, visible in the lower part of the slab, leaned against a raised presbytery (Latini 2003). It is possible, however, that, as in Santa Maria in Trastevere (Bull-Simonsen 2001), the pluteus leaned against kneeling benches, used by the faithful to receive the Eucharist directly from the hands of the presbyters, in keeping with the Carolingian rite.
As for the possible dating of the two-sided pluteus, if, considering the pervasiveness of the motif, it is difficult to date the interlaced decoration to a period except for a generic first half of the ninth century, the aedicule decoration, which is similar to that of the plutei of Santa Sabina (Trinci Cecchelli 1976, in particular fig. 235; Gianandrea 2011), would suggest it could be dated to the first year of the pontificate of Eugene II (824–827) (Betti 2017; Roth-Rubi 2015). A similar sapling, a common enough emblem in the Carolingian artistic language (Lomartire 2013; Roth-Rubi 2020), datable to the first decades of the ninth century, can also be found on an antependium or pluteus slab from San Colombano in Bobbio (Destefanis 2008, fig. 2).
Our fragment displays clever carving and surface polishing and the use of a precious proconnesian marble, and can be compared to mature artifacts such as those produced in the Santa Prassede workshop on the Esquiline, commissioned by Paschal I (817–824). Moreover, the consistency of artifacts produced by workers of the Roman workshops between the two pontificates of Paschal I (817–824) and Eugene II (824–827) has been repeatedly reaffirmed (Melucco Vaccaro 1999; Melucco Vaccaro 2001; Ballardini 2008, Roth-Rubi 2015).

Valentina Brancone

Fair. Roughly hewn and chiseled.

​​​​​​​2002–2003 (restoration directed by Maria Giulia Barberini and Maria Selene Sconci, undertaken on the occasion of the founding of the Museo di Palazzo Venezia Lapidarium).

Unknown. Found during excavations for the Palazzetto, as part of demolition carried out in the area for the relocation of the Palazzetto di Venezia (1910–1914).

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