Capital with four heads
Type:
Capitals,
Sculptures
Date:
ca. 1230
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Italy
Medium:
Limestone
Dimensions:
35.9 × 33 × 33 cm
Description:
This carved limestone capital, likely made Apulia (Italy), shows four heads with clearly differentiated phenotypes—observable characteristics that result from genetics and environment. Although skin color is not visible in carved stone, one figure is evidently meant to represent a black African. To his left is an older man, presumably a Muslim, wearing a turban. No figure is represented in a position that suggestions inferiority or subservience relative to the others.
The carving shares formal characteristics with other objects produced for the court of Frederick II Hohenstaufen (1194–1250), who was king of Sicily from 1198, subsequently king of Germany, Italy, and Jerusalem, and then Holy Roman Emperor. His court in Palermo attracted scholars writing in Latin, Greek, and Arabic, and his ambitions to rule over a vast empire are well captured by the diversity of the capital's four figures.
The carving shares formal characteristics with other objects produced for the court of Frederick II Hohenstaufen (1194–1250), who was king of Sicily from 1198, subsequently king of Germany, Italy, and Jerusalem, and then Holy Roman Emperor. His court in Palermo attracted scholars writing in Latin, Greek, and Arabic, and his ambitions to rule over a vast empire are well captured by the diversity of the capital's four figures.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
8
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about this object on the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
