Porphyry Column with Ionic Capital
Unknown · Roman imperial period
A slender column of purple porphyry rises well over two and a half metres to an Ionic capital with its two scrolling volutes. Notice, just below the capital, the subtle change of surface: the capital and the top of the shaft were carved from a separate block and set on the main shaft, a common economy with a stone so hard and so costly. Porphyry came from a single quarry in the Egyptian desert, worked under imperial control, and its colour, the purple of emperors, made it the stone of power in Rome and later in Constantinople.
The column is intact, which is rare for a monolith of this size, and was made in Italy in the imperial period; nothing more is known of the building it once belonged to. With its twin it frames the porphyry statue of a praying woman in this hall, an arrangement inherited from the Borghese collection in Rome, where columns and statues were combined into palatial displays. The Louvre bought the three pieces in 1807 with the rest of the Borghese marbles.
Did You Know? The capital is a separate block set on the shaft, a trick that saved the trouble of carving one enormous piece of porphyry.
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