Baroque style Column (2) - circa 1800

Pair of Portuguese columns, from the late eighteenth century, carved in walnut wood, with a clearly Baroque-inspired design and integrated into the historicist taste of the nineteenth century. Each column presents a tall and slender structure, resting on a quadrangular base of architectural construction. The bases are formed by molded and stepped bodies, decorated on the various faces with rectangular recesses containing carved and pierced vegetal elements. The upper and lower terminations are enriched by friezes of stylized leaves and protruding moldings, giving the pieces a solid and monumental presence. The shaft develops in a helicoidal movement, evoking the traditional Salomonic columns of Portuguese Baroque. The surface is profusely clad with grapevines, grape clusters, tendrils, and vegetal motifs, carved in high relief and arranged along the entire column. Among the vegetation appear various birds perched or integrated into the composition, represented with wings, tails and plumage carefully worked. The viticultural decoration has strong symbolic and ornamental value. The grapevines and grape clusters, frequently used in Portuguese religious and decorative art, may be linked to abundance, fertility, renewal, and, in a Christian context, to the Eucharist. The presence of birds reinforces the naturalistic character of the composition, adding movement and variety to the whole. The shafts are framed by turned collars at the base and at the top. At the upper part, each column terminates in a carved capital, composed of overlapping leaves, volutes and small architectural elements, supporting a square platform with a notched edge and decorated. These caps were probably intended for the placement of sculptures, jars, vases, busts or other display objects. The carving work reveals a dense and three-dimensional composition, with strong contrast between the prominent reliefs and the deeply recessed backgrounds. The dark brown tone of the wood, enriched by the patina acquired over time, enhances the depth of the sculptures and the ornamental quality of the pieces. From the design of the shafts, the abundance of vegetal motifs and the influence of Salomonic columns, the set is framed in the neobaroque or Baroque Revival style, broadly disseminated in Portuguese production of the eighteenth century. They may have been conceived as elements of a religious interior, of an altarpiece, of an architectural structure or, subsequently, adapted as independent decorative columns. They show signs of antiquity and use, yet retain an important sculptural and decorative presence.

Origin: Portugal
Era: eighteenth century
Style: historicist, inspired by Baroque or neobaroque
Material: carved walnut wood
Decoration: birds, grapevines, grape clusters, tendrils and vegetal motifs
Dimensions: 125 × 22 cm, each