No. 9 (Spring 2017), 140-163 ISSN 2014-7023

Broken Sculptures: Remarks on the Early Medieval Sculptures of Santa Prassede

Antonella Ballardini Università degli studi Roma Tre e-mail: [email protected]

Received: 6 Feb. 2017 | Revised: 22 March 2017 | Accepted: 15 April 2017 | Available online: 21 June 2017 | doi: 10.1344/Svmma2017.9.12

Resum Dedicato ai frammenti scultorei della basilica di Santa Prassede (817-824), il contributo propone alcune riflessioni su un episodio emblematico dell’età classica e creativa della scultura alto medievale a Roma.

Paraules clau: scultura alto medievale, arredo liturgico, Santa Prassede, Roma, Oratorio di San Zenone, Pasquale I

Abstract This paper looks into the fragments of liturgical furniture of Santa Prassede (817-824): an emblematic example of classical and creative sculpture in the early medieval Rome.

Key Words: Early Medieval Sculpture, Liturgical Furnishings, Santa Prassede, Rome, the Oratory of San Zenone, Pope Paschal I

SVMMA 2017 140 Broken Sculptures: Remarks on the Early Medieval Sculptures of Santa Prassede Antonella Ballardini

The sculpture fragments from the Roman basilica of Santa Prassede all’Esquilino are the best known for those concerned with the Early Middle Ages, not only for their distinctive execution, but also because despite the uncertain chronological horizon of the sculpture of this period, they can be dated with some precision.

The execution of the four largely intact plutei, which include a modest number of fragments from decorated panels, exhibit technical characteristics and a decorative style that can be compared with the sculptural fragments from Santa Maria in Domnica—the diaconia on the Caelian Hill— and Santa Cecilia—the old titular church in Trastevere. Like Santa Prassede, these churches were also rebuilt by Pope Paschal I (817-824).1 (Fig. 1)

Associated with the legendary figure of Prassede, who was “more pleasing to the Lord than the stars,”2 and almost a symbol of the founding martyr of the Church of Rome, the thousand- year history of the basilica can be studied through literary and epigraphic sources. The archival documents (both ancient and recent) related to it, and a partial archaeological excavation have attracted the interest of scholars and academics.3

Even before the four fragmented plutei carved from large slabs of cipollino marble came to light in the basilica (1915), Raffaele Cattaneo, in the volume L’architettura in Italia dal VI secolo al Mille (1889), described the renowned oratory of San Zenone as “la cosa più ragguardevole che racchiuda Santa Prassede fra i resti del secolo IX.”4 It is likely that his conclusion was influenced by the context—that of the basilica in the 1880s—which he saw modified by the so- called “decorative style of Pius IX.”5

However, if reinterpreted within the methodological approach that inspired L’Architettura in Italia, the reference to San Zenone allows us to understand why the oratory was “remarkable” for Cattaneo both in itself and in order to reconstruct a more general diachronic picture of architecture and sculpture in the Early Middle Ages. In fact, San Zenone not only preserved a ‘contemporary’ inscription,6 but also showed, and still shows today, an unaltered original ‘organic’ link between

1 Pani Ermini 1974a: 111-113, Tables XXII-XXXIV; Melucco Vaccaro 1974: 167-175, Tables XLIX-LII; Ranucci 2003: 218-227 Righetti 2007: 78-81; Ballardini 2008: 225-246. For a technical discussion of the sculpture, see: Macchiarella 1976a: 282-288. 2 “...Praxedis D(omi)no super aethra placentis…” the inscription is from a mosaic in the apse of the basilica, see: Favreau 1992: 681-727; Favreau 1997: 114-120. 3 Ciampini 1699: 143-143; Davanzati 1725; Krautheimer, Corbett 1971: 235-262; Apollonj Ghetti 1961; Ballardini 1999: 5-68; Caperna 1999. For a reconsideration of the documentation from B.M. Apollonj Ghetti’s excavation, see: Caperna 2014: 51-57 and 79-80. 4 Cattaneo 1889: 153. For a biography of Raffaele Cattaneo, see: Russo: 2012: 291-292. 5 “Putroppo goffi restauratori moderni hanno guasto l’interno di questa basilica, coprendone le pareti con volgari e stonate pitture…” Cattaneo 1889: 152; Caperna 2014: 38-39. 6 ✝Paschalis praesulis opus decor fulgit in aula / quod pia optulit vota studuit reddere D(omino)o: “Di Paschal l’opra in questa reggia splende / Che i voti a Dio, c’havea promessi, rende,” see: Panvinio 1570: 333 (translation by M. A. Lanfranchi).

141 SVMMA 2017 No. 9 (Spring 2017), 140-163 ISSN 2014-7023 architectural sculpture and the rest of the building.7 With an eye refined by classical training and the technical skills of an architect, Cattaneo was able to establish the relative chronology of the sculptural and decorative arrangement of the chapel, including the floor, which he recognised as one of the earliest examples of medieval opus sectile.8 In San Zenone, Cattaneo identified the reuse of elements from the classical era that had been reworked during the ninth century. Thus, in recognising that those components were reused during the Early Middle Ages, he opened up an unprecedented perspective regarding both the study of the practice of reuse and our knowledge of the development of sculpture that was intertwined with it.9 (Fig. 2) Therefore, regarding the ‘various periods’ found in the architectural sculpture of the chapel, he reflects on the chronology of the columns’ plinths and bases inside the oratory and draws attention to the adaptation of Ionic capitals—in a ‘Byzantine style’—on the outer façade, which he distinguishes from the dosserets decorated in a zig-zag pattern. In his opinion, these were the work of the same “Italo-Byzantine” artist who carved the jambs. The classification of the “styles” of early medieval sculpture proposed by Cattaneo in the last quarter of the nineteenth century (“Latin- Barbarian;” “Byzantine-Barbarian;” and/or “Italio-Byzantine” style) needs to be reconsidered from a historiographical perspective. However, the fact is that scholars still resort to his lucid reading of this particular monument, which in turn confirms the validity of the chronology he proposed for the architectural sculpture of San Zenone.10

Plutei and Pavement

It is a pity that Raffaele Cattaneo (1861-1889), a contemporary of Giacomo Boni (1859-1925), did not live long enough to witness the work carried out at Santa Prassede under the supervision of Antonio Muñoz. After being appointed as superintendent, between 1913 and 1918, Muñoz played a decisive role in the decision to give the floor of Santa Prassede a neo-Cosmatesque appearance.11 It was precisely then that the eighteenth-century floor revealed the presence of the four fragmented plutei and other smaller sculpture fragments that are presently affixed to the walls of the old northern transept (the chapel of the Crucifix). (Fig. 3) The first person to write about this homogeneous sculpture group was Muñoz, who gave a brief presentation at the Pontifical Roman Academy of Archaeology a year after the discovery, “... upon removing some white marble slabs it was found that on the back they had decorations that were characteristic of the seventh- to tenth-century Roman style. They are obviously two plutei from the schola cantorum of Paschal I. One of them measures 2.20 x 1 m and has two circles within rhombi; the other measures 2.24 x 1 m and features geometric figures, three crosses whose lateral arms were chiseled at a later time.”12

7 For Raffaele Cattaneo—just as for Pietro Selvatico—writing about architecture also involved writing about architectural sculpture, Ballardini 2009: 109-115; Ballardini 2013: 159. 8 Cattaneo 1889: 154-155; Guidobaldi, Guiglia Guidobaldi 1983: 468-469. 9 On reused materials in San Zenone, Pensabene 2015: 405-408; 415; 858. 10 Pani Ermini 1974a: 134-144, Tables XXXV-XLV. 11 Caperna 2014: 162-166, fig. 182-185. 12 Muñoz 1918: 119-128. For a discussion of the work of Antonio Muñoz who, between 1914 and 1944, was responsible for restoring the main ‘medieval’ sites in Rome, see: Bellanca 2002: 136-137 and 321-322.

SVMMA 2017 142 Broken Sculptures: Remarks on the Early Medieval Sculptures of Santa Prassede Antonella Ballardini

Unfortunately, the work on the site was carried out without any regard to recording the locations of the archaeological findings, or the eventual traces left by the anchors of the plutei and the marble balusters on the oldest part of the floor, which would have made it possible to ground the study of the liturgical layout of Pope Paschal I’s buildings on archaeological data.13

However, the writings of Benigno Davanzati and Giovanni Marangoni provide some indirect data about the early medieval pavement and presbytery. Both authors saw the basilica’s early medieval floor before its complete restoration in 1742 as part of the restoration initiative promoted by Cardinal Ludovico Pico della Mirandola.14

Thus, in 1744, Giovanni Marangoni, denounced the circulation of countless epigraphs removed during the reconstruction of the old flooring of the basilica, “which was fully paved by the blessed Pope Paschal I with inscriptions that were both refined and Christian, once all these marbles were selected, they filled up the atrium of the church, and although we begged the Father Procurator General to at least salvage those that bore inscriptions, we were told that the monks could not do anything, for the stonecutter had reached an agreement with their superiors to renovate the pavement that included the purchase of all the marbles; thus it was refurbished with bricks and the sole guide of marble slabs, though some few panels with some inscriptions have been left in the lateral naves.”15 Marangoni’s testimony, as a scholar and expert in Antiquity, suggested that until 1742 the floor of Santa Prassede remained, to some extent, a mixture of early medieval flagstones with inscriptions from Antiquity, both pagan and Christian. Even before, Abbot Benigno Davanzati, who, in 1725, authored a guide for pilgrims visiting the basilica, mentioned the old floor and referred to a partition or enclosure around the presbytery that had been dismantled. He also noted that some plutei slabs had been reused on the ground around the base of the apsidal dais. When referring to the ancient custom of reserving separate spaces for men and women, Davanzati called the partition, “places to take away the confusion that the crowd can cause ...; even [our basilica] had this rood screen once upon a time, that is, partition walls in accordance with the Apostolic traditions ... and these rood screens, or partitions are those four stones, or grooved marble slabs, ... on the floor before the steps of the high altar, which were formerly arranged on both sides to form the division between men and women.”16

13 Many years later, the manner in which Muñoz supervised the works was branded as a true “archaeological crime” on the website of the Osservatore Romano, which recalled how Orazio Marucchi had been prevented from carrying out surveys of the site. See: A. Lazzarini, Restauri e scavi al Titulus Praxedis (5 September 1937), noted by: Caperna 2014: 166. 14 We owe the current late Baroque configuration of the dais and confessional to Ludovico Pico della Mirandola, see: Caperna 2014: 143-157. 15 Marangoni, 1744: 432. 16 Later in the text Davanzati returns to this subject: “E circa del nominato Matroneo,...questo era un luogo destinato per le donne, e ferrato con pietre, e sebbene al presente non è in essere, vi è però stato come si ricava e conosce da quelle quattro gran pietre scannellate che sono avanti la scalinata del presbiterio, le quali lo formavano, e che poi non praticandosi più nelle chiese la suddetta divisione,...furono levate e per memoria del suddetto Matroneo poste nel pavimento,” see: Davanzati 1725: 163-164, and 169.

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But when the “grooved” plutei were used in the partial refurbishment of the pavement in 1725, was this pavement the one from the time of Paschal I?

It is plausible that the four slabs were laid at the foot of the dais when the apse was renovated at the initiative of Cardinal Antoniotto Pallavicini in 1489. This radical intervention moved forward the front of the dais, and led to the transformation of the chapel in the north transept and, presumably, the dismantling of the partitions of the presbytery that stretched from the nave to the foot of the dais.17 In this way, the titular cardinal reduced the liturgical space of Santa Prassede to its modern form by breaking up the ancient presbyterial partitions, thus following the example set by the mother churches of Rome (St John in Lateran and St Peter’s).18

This intervention would explain why Cardinal Pallavicini partially restored the early medieval floor, “putting it together in the best way and placing new marbles where needed.”19 In fact, it is plausible that the damage to the old floor was precisely caused when the plutei and balusters were disassembled, a complex operation that would have required the floor to be broken up, at least along the perimeter of the partition which had been anchored to the ground for centuries.

The analysis of the floor, as summarised (1489-1504; 1725; 1742), demonstrates that the four fragmented plutei were always in Santa Prassede and, even if this is not certain, proves that they belong to the pontificate of Paschal I.20 Furthermore, the history of the pavement of Santa Prassede leads to new considerations.

The signs of wear on the surface of the slabs rediscovered by Muñoz confirm that, at the end of the fifteenth century, the plutei were placed on the ground for decoration. In all likelihood, the horizontal arm of the crosses that adorned the plutei were carved off at this time in accordance with the old ban against the conculcatio crucis.21 In 1742, those same plutei were trimmed and reused again on their other side, as marble guides that alternated with the brick tiles of the new floor. But how did all the balusters and plutei from the ninth-century presbyterial partition go missing?

17 Cardinal Pallavicini had ‘side choirs’ built on either side of the dais, which hid the six famous Corinthian columns behind diaphragm walls, see: Caperna 2014: 35-36. 18 In Rome, the decline of the ancient stationary practice of liturgy, the transfer of the papal curia to Avignon, and the gradual imposition of new formal ideals regarding spaces of worship, brought about the beginning of a process of “liberating the nave” from the second quarter of the fifteenth century onwards. St John in Lateran and St Peter’s removed their presbyterial partitions between 1425 and 1460, see: de Blaauw 2006: 25-51. 19 Davanzati 1725: p. 508. 20 The set-up of marble liturgical furnishing for a place of worship like Santa Prassede, which was rebuilt from the foundations, required a partition made of heavy marble slabs that had to be built along with the pavement. On this regard, see the considerations made by Roth-Rubi on the assembly of the main liturgical furniture (Grundausstattung) of the Benedictine church of St John in Müstair: Roth-Rubi 2015b (Textband): 169. 21 Noble 2009: 26.

SVMMA 2017 144 Broken Sculptures: Remarks on the Early Medieval Sculptures of Santa Prassede Antonella Ballardini

It is probable that part of the early medieval “stones” endured the same fate of the slabs inscribed with pagan and Christian inscriptions about which Marangoni had complained, or that part of the marble was sold in order to pay the stonecutters who made the eighteenth-century floor.22 It should be noted, however, that the reconstruction of the floor in the nave was undertaken soon after the renovation of the apsidal dais and the relic chamber connected to it (1729-1734).23 In particular, this intervention involved the dismantling of the ciborium and the Cosmatesque altar. The latter was transferred to a new chapel in the crypt with (longitudinal) access to the nave, an intervention that left a mark on the medieval pavement of the dais, which in turn needed. In a truly antiquarian fashion, the decision was made to restore the medieval polychromatic floor.24 It is not possible to say whether the alternation of coloured marble panels and fine veined marble guides dates back to the time of Cardinal Pallavicini (1489-1504) or if it was an outcome of the eighteenth-century restoration. However, it is important to note that the spacing between the Cosmatesque panels is a simple chequered pattern whose sectilia match in both colours and size the mosaic that surrounds the great porphyry disk in the pavement of San Zenone. (Figs. 4-5)

This observation, first made by Giuseppe Finocchio, makes it possible to infer that the dais of Pope Paschal I could also have been adorned with an exquisite opus sectile pavement.25 This hypothesis is indirectly confirmed by the testimony of Raffaele Cattaneo who saw similar elements in the floor of the presbytery of the contemporary basilica of Santa Cecilia before its “restoration” in 1900. In fact, he remembered, “a fragment of the original floor where one could see the same decorative motifs, the same style, and the same marble of the pavement of the chapel of San Zenone.”26 In addition to the methods of construction, the mosaic decorations, and the sculptural fragments from Santa Prassede, Santa Maria in Domnica, and Santa Cecilia, Cattaneo’s careful observation confirmed that the sites of the three basilicas, which were all rebuilt by Paschal I within a short period, were organised as a “continuous cycle.” This make it possible to plan both the collection and use of materials to build and decorate the buildings, as well as to hire skilled workers, such as masons, carpenters, craftsmen, sculptors and marble workers, fresco painters, mosaicists, and plasterers.27

Returning to the dais of Santa Prassede and its floor, which Antonio Muñoz left intact, just as the the guides of the hall pavement revealed the four plutei of Paschal I, the guides of veined marble that frame the panels of coloured marble could conceal other fragments of the lost ninth-century presbyterial partition. The widespread use of cipollino marble (the same ‘Greek’ marble out of

22 The balusters were the easiest stones to move. The fact that the early medieval balusters have gone missing even at Santa Sabina is quite telling, see: Gianandrea 2011: 154-156. 23 Caperna 2014: 146-151. 24 Finocchio 2010: 305-312. 25 Finocchio 2010: 310. 26 Cattaneo 1889: 155. In the 1880s, Cattaneo conducted a study on the ancient floors because, as an architect, he was designing the coloured marble flooring of the crypt of Pope Pius IX in CampoVerano, Ballardini 2010: 210. 27 Ballardini 2008: 225-226.

145 SVMMA 2017 No. 9 (Spring 2017), 140-163 ISSN 2014-7023 which the fragmented plutei were carved), the size of the guides (which in some cases exceed 2.3 m in length), and, here and there, the presence of traces of decorations that were carved off the surface point in that direction.28 (Fig. 6)

Decorative schemes, technique, and qualitative standards

Despite the lack of consistency of qualitative standards in early medieval sculpture, the reliefs produced in the workshops of Paschal I achieved some results that would later be applied to the works of Santa Sabina (824-827).29 The marbles of Santa Sabina—relocated to the celebrated “schola cantorum” by Antonio Muñoz30—and the fragmented plutei of the Paschalian basilicas are in fact examples of what we call the classical and successfully creative age of early medieval sculpture in Rome.31 Unfortunately, at Santa Prassede, the verso of the surviving sculpture fragments cannot be examined because they are face down. Considering the history of their recovery, the underside should still correspond to the polished marble guides of the eighteenth- century pavement (supra).32

The original edges of the slabs, in the places where they have been preserved, are very damaged. The only two cases in which the cornices are still largely intact (Fig. 7),33 allow us to identify these marble fragments as part of the plutei of the presbyterial partition. The unusual moulding of these cornices is a distinctive feature of Paschalian workshops. The analysis of the cornices of the sixth-century slabs suggests that the stonemasons and sculptors of Paschal I were in fact influenced by the form and decoration of Palaeo-Christian plutei (for example, the plutei of the

28 The four fragmented plutei have an average length of 2.2 m. 29 At the basilica of Santa Sabina, Pope Eugene II (824-827) availed himself to a team of stone masons and sculptors that had first come together in the Paschalian workshops, see: Trinci Cecchelli 1976: 194-224, Tables LXXII- LXXXV. Following the hypothesis proposed by Margherita Cecchelli, Manuela Gianandrea identified an arch fragment with an inscription that was walled up in the garden of the church of Santi Bonifacio e Alessio as part of the ciborium of Santa Sabina, which she attributed to the sculptors of Eugene II, see: Gianandrea 2011: 156-159, Figs. 5-6. Although the inscription allows to establish a plausible connection with the basilica of Santa Sabina, the layout of the composition and the careless technique used in this fragment are completely different from the quality of the marble sculptures produced during the time of Eugene II. Thus, it seems strange that the Pope’s workshop would entrust the creation of a ciborium (if it is indeed a ciborium) to a less gifted sculptor. 30 The reorganisation of the “schola cantorum,” concluded in 1936, took placed over a long period and suffered many changes. For further information on this issue, see: Bellanca 1999: 13-19; Ghisu, Raimondi 2008: 303-307; Betti 2008: 151 and note 13; Gianandrea 2011: 153-154. 31 Pani Ermini 1974a: 111-113, Tables XXII-XXXIV. Fragments from an architrave that was rebuilt in the eighteenth century lateral on the side walls of the apsidal dais, above the famous Corinthian columns, need to be added to the compilation of Letizia Pani Ermini, see: Emerick 2001, 146-148. The typology of the decoration and the use of a drill distinguish the architrave of the medieval portal from the artefacts made in the workshops of Paschal I. Instead, it was closer to pieces of Byzantine origin that were also reused in San Zenone and elsewhere in Rome. See, for example, the fragment of the cornice of the communal Antiquarium in, Pani Ermini 1974b: 52, Table XVI, n. 31; Pensabene 2015: 406 and 409, Fig. 591 a-b. 32 A similar scenario played out in the case of the trimmed slabs of the plutei from Santa Maria in Domnica. Here the verso was likely prepared for reuse in the modern floor, see: Ranucci 2003: 219. 33 Pani Ermini 1974a: Table XXVII, n. 61 (lower cornice), and Table XXVIII, n. 63.

SVMMA 2017 146 Broken Sculptures: Remarks on the Early Medieval Sculptures of Santa Prassede Antonella Ballardini enclosure promoted by Pope John II at San Clemente),34 a phenomenon that started at St Peter’s Basilica at the time of Gregory III (731-741) and continued during the papacy of Leo III (795- 816).35 The complex cornices consist of a wide perimeter band with three overlapping bevels sloping outwards.36 Unfortunately, the fragmentary state of the plutei from Santa Prassede only allows for an idealistic reconstruction of the impact that the cornices would have had on the decorated panels. I will now try to describe this effect with the help of images.

In addition to the flat band that runs along the edge, the strong contrast between light and dark of the three overlapping bevels creates a concentric perimeter that surrounds and frames a field decorated with geometrical, vegetal, and scroll patterns. In other words, the edge of the cornice balances and at the same time delimits the lavishly decorated panels.37 At least some of the examples reproduce the symbolic geometry of sixth-century partitions—crosses inscribed in rhombi and squares—but, in a novel way, the background panes are decorated with corollas, helixes, fleury crosses, and triquetras that imbue the Palaeo-Christian configuration with new vitality.

It is probably necessary to coin a new ad hoc term to describe these “reliefs,” which are actually produced by lowering the background plane. Indeed, it is as if the geometric or vegetal shapes have been raised above the surface of the sculpture which is kept at a slightly lower level than the surrounding cornices. Although this technique is not new, here we find something unexpected. In the panels of the plutei of Paschal I, what Angiola Maria Romanini defined as, “the abstract two-dimensionality of Late Antique, Palaeo-Christian, and Byzantine images,”38 is classically mediated by cornices that do not frame figurative scenes—as in the reliefs on the wooden door of Santa Sabina—but exquisitely abstract compositions, even when the main motif is a foliated pattern. (Fig. 8) This ‘perspectival’ function of the cornices also had another purpose, because in order to convey its symbolic message, the decorated panel had to be observed, not only by itself and from a distance, but also in relation to the distinct structural elements of the presbyterial partition (pluteus-baluster-pluteus).

In this regard, it is worth recalling some of the remarks made by Leslie Brubaker who, while writing about the rhetoric of visual communication, noted how ‘aniconic’ decoration (whether it is used in the score of liturgical manuscripts or in the architectural space of a church), “directs

34 For details of the different mouldings (typologies a-e) carved on both sides of the plutei of San Clemente, see: Barsanti, Guiglia Guidobaldi 1992: 80-81. 35 Ballardini 2008: 233-239. 36 In the case of a fragment of a pluteus divided into two panels (Corpus CISAM, VII, 1, n. 62), a slightly wider band is carved on the overlapping bevels, cfr. typology a of the mouldings of the plutei of San Clemente (see also, Corpus CISAM, VII, 7, n. 50A). 37 On the black-and-white effect of reliefs that flourished during the Paschalian era, see Gianclaudio Macchiarella 1976b: 297. 38 Romanini 1971: 439.

147 SVMMA 2017 No. 9 (Spring 2017), 140-163 ISSN 2014-7023 the viewer to understand what is seen in a particular way” and to understand the hierarchy of elements.39 The lower parts of the walls covered in opus sectile or fabrics—either true or painted—the geometric or floral stucco, the ornamentation of doors and intrados, and the abstract decorations on the presbyterial partitions served as place markers for both devoted parishioners and clerics. To use Brubaker’s words, “Aniconic decoration keeps the church visitor firmly in place,” and “…like other non-narrative phenomena such as music or scent, it is a powerful manipulator of perceptions, establishing a framework that silently structures meaning and a mode of understanding beyond words.”40

Alongside the decorative patterns of Palaeo-Christian inspiration, the plutei of Santa Prassede also feature geometric motifs. Among these we find interlaced scrolls combined with a mesh m of crosses inscribed in squares, as well as large loops fixed between two points and circular meshes framing helical rosettes. These motifs are actually variations of Flechtwerkdecor that, in the case of Santa Prassede, have been affected by the relocation of materials. It is, however, significant that despite the similarities in the execution of these reliefs, the extant patterns on the fragments from the other Paschalian basilicas follow different schemes. Although the fact that only a small part of the original pieces is extant calls for caution, a comparison between the sculpture fragments from Santa Prassede, Santa Cecilia, and Santa Maria in Domnica suggests that the master sculptors of Paschal I, at least in regards to Flechtwerkdecor, developed ad hoc designs for each basilica. (Fig. 9)

Furthermore, there is one decorative motif found at Santa Prassede (as well as at Santa Cecilia) that Rudolf Kautzsch defined as Korbboden in 1939, and which is well known to specialists in early medieval sculpture.41 In an attempt to name it, the German scholar used the expression “basket bottom” in order to find a ‘resemblance’ between the motif—which is actually a purely abstract geometric composition—and a ‘real-world object’.42 He seemed to find this in the wicker weaving around the interlace of willow branches that provide the structural element at the base of a basket. Over Kautzsch’s inaccurate definition, Fabio Betti rightly favoured a “cosmological- cosmographic” reading for the geometric composition proposed by Victor H. Elbern (1983), which thought the motif was of ‘Carolingian’ origin.43 According to this German scholar, the geometric elements of the motif convey both a specific worldview and an image of Christian salvation. Thus, the fragments at Santa Prassede feature a tilted square inscribed in a circle, which is then intersected by saltire crosses carved with scrolls whose strands seem to unravel at the rosette at the centre only to become entangled again upon reaching the edge of the circle (Fig. 10). If one agrees with Elbern regarding the abstract nature of the motif and the cosmological and

39 Brubaker 2004: 574. 40 Brubaker 2004: 577 and 589. 41 Kautzsch 1939: 9-12. 42 Casartelli Novelli 1992: 535. 43 Betti 1995: 131 and Elbern 1983: 21-22.

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Christological message it carries, defining it as ‘Carolingian’ would require reconsidering its origin, which is also in line with sophisticated geometric designs from Antiquity. (Fig. 11)

Finally, in a new study on the reconstruction of the presbyterial partition at San Benedetto di Mals (Val Venosta), Katrin Roth-Rubi favoured the expression Kreis-Raute-Kreutz-Motiv (circle- rhombus-cross motif), which suits the abstract and symbolic nature of this decoration much better than the misleading Korbboden. Roth-Rubi has drawn attention to the design of the partition at San Benedetto—also found in other early medieval contexts—which uses both the circle- rhombus-cross motif and vine scrolls with confronted polylobate leaves attached to the stems.44 In Santa Prassede, the latter was originally adapted in an abstract yet surprisingly organic and lively way to decorate the panels of a pluteus whose size is similar to that of the plutei featuring the double circle-rhombus-cross motif. As Roth-Rubi observes, this solution was not incidental for the combination of these two motifs can also be seen in the monolithic slab of Niederzell (Reichenau), and in the pluteus divided in two panels that is extant in the outer apsidal gallery of Santa Maria e Donato in Murano.45 (Fig. 12) The coexistence of these two motifs can also be found in several examples from Central Italy, in Nepi, such as the abbey of Sant’Elia (Corpus CISAM, VIII, n. 164;165;173); the Duomo di Ferentino (Corpus CISAM, XI, n. 5; 23; 38; 40) and the church of the monastery of San Silvestro al Soratte (Corpus CISAM, VIII, n. 142; 145; 143). In particular, in this latter church reused materials were placed in the step leading up to the apsidal dais, namely, a baluster with vine scroll with confronted polylobate leaves and, to the left of the Romanesque altar, a magnificent example of the circle-rhombus-cross motif carved into a slab of cipollino marble.46 It stands to reason that the combination of these two motifs synthesised the Christological emblem and the Tree of Life (in the form of a perennially growing vine), precisely because of the structural link that bound together the distinct components of the presbyterial partition (pluteus-baluster-pluteus).

Most of the extant sculpture fragments of Santa Prassede, large and small, present varying degrees of surface damage and only in a couple of cases can we make any real observations regarding the technique behind their creation.47 (See: Figs. 7 and 13)

It is important to remember that almost all the surviving stones are made of cipollino marble (marmor carystium). The homogeneity of the material and the considerable size of the slabs used in the workshop of Santa Prassede bespeak the economic resources of its promoter. Furthermore,

44 Roth-Rubi 2015a: 95-105. 45 Roth-Rubi 2015a: 103-108 and for the pluteus of Santa Maria e Donato in Murano, Ibsen 2008: 176-177 and fig. 35. 46 The presence of Greek marble at Soratte (unicum among the early medieval fragments extant in this area) is a significant indication of the origins of the “Urbe della pietra” and the sculptors who, with their singular talents, decorated it. 47 The first technical discussion of the Paschalian fragments from Santa Prassede was undertaken by Gianclaudio Macchiarella, see Macchiarella 1976b: 282-284.

149 SVMMA 2017 No. 9 (Spring 2017), 140-163 ISSN 2014-7023 although early medieval sculpture was, on average, produced quickly, the stonemasons and sculptors employed by Paschal I demonstrated both the carefulness and the ability to expertly utilise the high quality marble they had available. In this regard (and as a working hypothesis), one must wonder whether the absence of traces of a coloured finish on the surfaces should be seen as an original trait. The almost exclusive use of cipollino marble, here in a lighter shade with fine grey-blue veins, might be a result of the patron’s choice, which the craftsmen then accommodated by skilfully using the different shades of the cipollino marble to enhance the sculpted shapes. (Cfr. Fig. 8)

This hypothesis is further validated by the mastery of the sculptors, who managed to produce a subtle light-dark effect on the naked stone. This is exemplified by the modular gradation (in both thickness and depth) of the helical rosettes, which were in turn inscribed in almost perfect circles and the aforementioned frame formed by overlapping bevels. (Fig. 13) Another fine example is also found in the gradual slope of the bevels, leading to the surface of the cornice’s listel, giving it a rough and opaque finish that contrasts with the flat and discretely polished surface of the edge. (Fig. 14)

Putting the pieces back together

The fragmentary and erratic fate of early medieval sculptures—which, to a large extent had a liturgical character—is one of the main obstacles when it comes to understanding and dating these pieces. Approaching a fragment out of context is like getting to Finisterre: in sculpture, like in painting, the erratic fragment is a “limit” beyond which (not infrequently) the functional and expressive meaning that man has bestowed on the artefact is lost.

The small collection of fragments at Santa Prassede, including the architectural sculpture of San Zenone, offers an opportunity to “contextualise” an artistic practice that was not only strictly bound to the form and function of an early medieval building of worship, but also demands to overcome the boundaries of an exclusive typological study of sculptural motifs.

Indeed, the study of the formalisation of the language of early medieval sculpture loses its grip if it does not include any information about the functional features of stone artefacts. Stylistic analyses need to be combined with an understanding of technique, and also with the acknowledgement that qualitative standards, however high or low, do not define the style of a period but a certain functionality that, on occasion, had to adapt to the demands (and the material and cultural possibilities) of a complex society. Especially in the cases of papal Rome and the Patrimonium Sancti Petri, this adaptation calls for a more detailed understanding of the promoters that were involved in these endeavours.

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All this requires patient and experimental work, in line with the efforts of Raffaele Cattaneo and Ferdinando Mazzanti at the end of the nineteenth century.48 Fortunately enough, from time to time we come across some “milestone” that expands our understanding and establishes a point of reference.49 Here, I would like to note at least one due to its relationship to the sculptures from the papacy of Paschal I.

This stone, preserved at Giulianello di Cori near the Palazzo Salviati, has a contested origin, and its presence was discussed by Domenico Palombi and again by Fabio Betti.50 Although fragmentary, this piece is comparable to a strand of DNA that contains within itself an incredible amount of information.51

Broken along the edges, this stone is carved on both sides. (Figs. 15-16) One side features a tabula inscriptionis in excellent condition (the chisel marks made on the polished surface, the wedge section, and the triangular terminals of the letters are still visible). The meaning of the inscribed text is explicit enough to date the reliefs to the pontificate of Leo III (795-816).52 The uniqueness of the monument, both sculpturally and epigraphically, lies in the choice of motifs that adorn the front and the back of the slab. On the front, surrounding the tabula inscriptionis, we find a vine scroll with confronted polylobate leaves, which, in its treatment of the scroll and the corcunopia-shaped stem, recalls the ornamentation of the pluteus of Santa Prassede.53 The biggest surprise comes from the ‘B-side’ though, where the groove on either side offers a fresh interpretation of the vine scroll with hanging grapes and vine leaves that directly stem from the refined sculptural repertoire of the Lombard era (see Cumiano’s slab in Bobbio, and Vitaliano’s slab in Osimo). This period was crucial for the reorganisation of the sculptural workshops in Rome and the Patrimonium Sancti Petri. Thus, the fragment at Giulianello almost allows us to touch the convergence in the papal entourage of stonemasons and sculptors who were direct heirs to a tradition that had been honed thanks to the patronage of the members of Lombard nobility.54

48 See the table by Ferdinando Mazzanti, which contains a few early medieval reliefs from San Zenone and was published in Ghisu, Raimondi 2008: Fig. 21. 49 See the commented compilation of datable early medieval sculpture fragments in Roth-Rubi 2015b (Textband): 11-44. 50 Palombi 2004: 30 and 33-35, Figs. 11a and 11b, and Betti 2014: 141-142 and Fig. 114. 51 My colleague Fabio Betti and I must thank Mrs. Clara Sbardella for welcoming us to Palazzo Salviati and allowing us to examine and photograph the fragment (4 November 2016). 52 Divided into two parts, the inscription includes not only a reference to a date (✝Tempo/ribus / D(omi)ni Leo/ni Tertii / Papae) on the left side, but also an enigmatic inscription introduced by the signum crucis on the right, which should be reconsidered or at the very least further discussed, see: Pani 2004: 34. 53 The surface of the pluteus of Santa Prassede is worn and the soft, rounded appearance of the vine scroll is not representative of its original state. Compared to the fragment from Giulianello, the lobes of the leaves are longitudinally carved but do not feature wedge sections. The Kerbschnitt incisions on the pluteus of Santa Prassede only affect—albeit not always—the juncture of the stem. 54 The coexistence of different traditions can also be seen in the variation of scripts between the two inscriptions. Whereas the chronological formula is written in a high and narrow script, the enigmatic inscription features a markedly square and ‘epigraphic’ script.

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Moreover, the decorations on front of the slab, which anticipate the results of Paschalian sculpture workshops, confirm a trend that was already present in mosaics from the papacy of Leo III (Triclinio Lateranense and Santi Nereo e Achilleo). This trend demonstrates how the reorganisation of craftsmen who were able to recapture ancient techniques and formalise new or renewed styles took place with excellent results well before the exuberant papacy of Paschal I.

In the case of Santa Prassede, the architectural sculpture of the chapel of San Zenone serves to illustrate this phenomenon. Except for some restorations and remodelling that affected the niches of the altar, the sculpted marbles of the chapel form a sort of formidable ‘incunabulum’ that demands further attention. Among the early medieval marble reused in San Zenone, I only wish to note, at the entrance to the chapel, the decorated architrave with a projecting cornice (featuring kyma, astragals, and two-stranded braids) and a monolithic fragment of the right jamb, trimmed to the size of the porch, but still complete with a column that supports the barrel ceiling (Corpus CISAM, VII, 1, n. 90 and n. 88). (Figs. 17-18)

The refined interlace that adorns the jamb—a textile recreation embedded in the decorated panel in a lively and almost elastic fashion55—bespeaks the skill of its creators, expressed in a Flechtwerkdecor that was appreciated and imitated by the sculptors from the workshops of Paschal I.56 The adaptation of these pieces indicates that the door (or doors) to which the architrave and the jamb originally belonged had a modest size and, obviously, provides a terminus ante quem for the production of the fragments (before 817-824).

Finally, the excellent design of these architectural elements shows that the sculptural workshops of Paschal I’s immediate predecessors had already reached a significant degree of distinction.57

55 See Roth-Rubi’s discussion on a series of similar interlace motifs that the author compares with reliefs in Chur, Roth-Rubi in press. 56 Not in Santa Prassede, but in the liturgical furnishings that the Pope promoted in Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Ferentino, see: Ramieri 1983: Table VI, n. 9; Table VII, n.11, Table XII, n. 16-17, cfr. Ballardini 2008: 229-230 and Roth-Rubi 2015b: 30. 57 The quality of the sculpture also extends to the epigraphs, Ballardini 2008: 237-239; Ballardini 2010: 141-148 (Figs. 161-166).

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Fig. 1 Rome, Santa Prassede, pluteus and fragments (BALLARDINI 2008).

Fig. 2 Santa Prassede, chapel of San Zenone, repurposed materials (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File%3ASPrassedeSZenonePortale03)

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Fig. 3 Rome, Santa Prassede, pluteus and fragments (BALLARDINI 2008).

Fig. 4 Santa Prassede, chapel of San Zenone, detail of the pavement (photograph bythe author).

Fig. 5 Santa Prassede, apsidal dais, detail of the pavement (photograph by the author).

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Fig. 6 Santa Prassede, apsidal dais, cipollino marble slab with worn-out traces of decoration (Photograph by the author)

Fig. 7 Rome, Santa Prassede, fragment of the frame of a pluteus (Photograph by the author)

Fig. 8 Rome, Santa Prassede, pluteus featuring vine scroll with confronted polylobate leaves (Photograph by the author)

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Fig. 9 Rome, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, fragmented plutei (Photograph by the author)

Fig. 10 Rome, Santa Prassede, pluteus featuring circle-rhombus-cross motifs (Photograph by the author)

Fig. 11 Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Med. gr. 1, fol. 6v, (early 6th century) (Bianconi 2015)

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Fig. 12 Murano, Santa Maria e Donato, pluteus featuring circle- rhombus-cross motifs and vine scroll (Ibsen 2008)

Fig. 13 Rome, Santa Prassede, fragment of pluteus featuring scrollwork and helical rosettes (Photograph by the author)

Fig. 14 Rome, Santa Prassede, detail of the pluteus featuring vine scroll with confronted polylobate leaves (Photograph by the author)

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Fig. 16 Giulianello di Cori, Palazzo Salviati, fragment Fig. 15 Giulianello di Cori, Palazzo Salviati, fragment of marble slab with inscription (back) (Photograph by of marble slab with inscription (front) (Photograph by the author) the author)

Fig. 17 Santa Prassede, chapel of San Zenone, detail of the architrave decorated with kyma, astragals, and two-stranded braids (Photograph by the author)

Fig. 18 Santa Prassede, chapel of San Zenone, detail of the right jamb (Photograph by the author)

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