Sphinx from a marble figural capital

Figural capitals represent the finest aspect of architectural decoration, and this finely carved example must have belonged to an elaborate Roman building. The fragment preserves the volute of a corner Ionic or composite capital decorated with a winged crouching sphinx on both eyes and a mask of Pan in relief on the pillow. It resembles a capital with a pair of heraldic sphinxes recorded in a 1761 engraving by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in the area of the Villa Borghese in Rome.