Romanesque capital

This capital is of fine-grained Caen stone. Each face is carved with inhabited scrollwork, and on the band below the neck, as well as on the chamfered portion of the abacus, there are patterns of interlace. It must have come from Reading Abbey whose capitals, together with those in the crypt at Canterbury, are of great importance in illustrating the revival of sculpture in southern England during the first half of the 12th century.