Original scientific paper
A contribution to the study of (early) medieval sculpture on the Pelješac peninsula and the genesis of the motif of the vegetal S-shaped tendril in southern Dalmatia
Kristina Babić Džaja
; Department of Art History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Abstract
The author presents a previously unpublished fragment of a pilaster belonging to an altar screen, which was reused as a spolium beside the left jamb of a window subsequently opened in the northern wall of the central bay of the Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian (?), or the sanctuary (presbytery) of the early modern Church of Sts. Philip and James respectively, in Prve Ponikve on the Pelješac peninsula. With the aim of reconstructing the complete composition of this fragmentarily preserved pilaster and proposing a date for it, the author provides the genesis of the development and the variants of the vegetal S-shaped tendril motif within the early medieval sculpture of Pelješac and the wider region of southern Dalmatia. The discussion concludes with observations concerning the circumstances and dating of the dismantling of the altar screen and the incorporation of the pilaster fragment in its present position.
Keywords
(early) medieval sculpture; spolium; vegetal S-tendrils; Sts. Philip and James (Sts. Cosmas and Damian); Prve Ponikve
Hrčak ID:
353297
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2025.
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