CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Roman columns were intricately decorated on their shafts, the most prominent example being the colossal free-standing Trajan's Column (113 A.D.), which narrates the Roman wars against the Dacians in its spiral relief. Popular motifs of the Augustan 'Golden Age' included stylized depictions of nature, of which the present column, with its delicate foliage inhabited by birds pecking at grapes, is a captivating example. This vegetal visible language represented fertility and prosperity.