104 - Capital with bows or castanets. 16th-century Andalusian work.

Capital with bows or castanets. 16th-century Andalusian work. Stone. Measurements: 40 x 50 x 60 cm. Provenance: Estate of Ramon Martí Alsina and Ricard Martí Aguiló. Artistic and heritage collection originating in the legacy of Catalan painters Ramon Martí Alsina (1826–1894), a seminal figure of 19th-century Catalan Realism, and his son Ricard Martí Aguiló (1857–1935). Passed down and enriched across successive generations, the collection brings together works from the original holdings of both artists alongside acquisitions made by their descendants. Dedicated to preserving and recovering the family legacy, the descendants actively reacquired works by the painters as they entered the market, progressively expanding the collection to encompass paintings, sculptures, archaeological artifacts, and other items of artistic and historical significance. Architectural capital carved from stone, representative of the 16th-century Andalusian ornamental tradition and the continued use of decorative motifs with Mudejar roots in Spanish Renaissance architecture. The piece features a truncated cone shape with a widened profile, topped by an abacus with molded lines, and relief decoration dominated by the characteristic “moñas” or “castañuelas”—coiled motifs reminiscent of volutes and stylized plant elements. Its ornamentation, with a distinctly sculptural character, combines the geometrization of forms with a free interpretation of classical repertoires, reflecting the richness of Andalusian stonemasonry and the unique synthesis of Islamic and Christian influences that characterized the region’s architecture. The stone surface, with its warm hue, porous texture, and traces of the passage of time, enhances the historical and sculptural appeal of the piece, originally conceived as a structural element and ornamental embellishment for an architectural complex. As a typological reference, it is worth noting the examples preserved at the Mudéjar Center in Seville, located in the Palace of the Marquises of La Algaba. These capitals were particularly common in the courtyards of Seville’s palace-houses and convent cloisters, and their design constitutes a stylization of the classical composite capital, combining Ionic volutes with Corinthian acanthus leaves. Their spread was also linked to the artistic and commercial ties between Seville and Genoa.