PLUTEO. - This refers to an element mostly of marble or also of wood (in Syria) used as a screen.

Famous were the p. of Trajan (anaglypta Traiani) in the loggia of the rostra at the Roman Forum; they were richly carved. The oldest p. in Christian buildings of worship (St. Peter's in the Vatican, St. Agnes) were similar to those carved in one of the bas-reliefs of the arch of Constantine. In the 6th century they appear with the cross in the middle, as in St. Clement's, in St. Peter's, in St. Lawrence's in Rome, in Constantinople, or with monograms as in St. Clement's (of John II), or richly decorated as at Ravenna; the braid decoration develops and still flourishes in the Lombard period (v. Enc. Catt., VII, col. 1519), the Carolingian period, and in Rome down to that of the Cosmati.

PLUTEO - P. of the rebuilt basilica of St. Clement (12th century) - Rome.(phot. Alinari)

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: F. Mazzanti, La scultura ornamentale romana nei bassi tempi, in Arch. stor. dell'arte, 2nd series, 2 (1896), pp. 33-57, 161-85; T. Rivoira, Le origini dell'architett. lombarda, I, Milan 1902, p. 335 ff.; E. A. Stückelberg, Langobard. Plastik, Munich 1909; G. Mendel, Musées impériaux ottomans; catal. des Sculptures grecq., rom. et byzantines, II, Constantinople 1914, pp. 471 ff.; J. Braun, Der christl. Altar, 2 vols., Munich of Bavaria 1924, passim.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec9_pluteo, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Pluteo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1638--1639}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/pluteo} }

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