Pulvino. — The very name (cushion) indicates its function; it is a marble element generally placed above the capital to support the weight of the entablatures or superimposed arches.
It appears in the Baths of Constantine at Ostia and in Rome in S. Costanza, in the ancient basilicas, e.g., in S. Pancrazio on the four columns beside the high altar; in S. Lorenzo fuori le mura above the columns of the upper order of the Basilica orientale or Pelagian, where on the outer face a Byzantine cross is carved; in S. Stefano both at the Celio and on the Via Latina; in Naples in S. Giorgio Maggiore; it flourishes and develops especially in Byzantine art at Constantinople in S. Sophia; at Salonica in S. Demetrius and at Ravenna in S. Vitale, the pulvini are carved like embroidery and again in S. Apollinare Nuovo and in S. Apollinare in Classe and in S. Giovanni Evangelista; in the cathedrals of Parenzo and of Aquileia.
The pulvini of the Christian basilica of Tigizit contain, for example, a carving of Daniel in a tunic between two lions (P. Gaulut, Etude sur les ruines romaines de Tigizit, Paris 1897, p. 37 and fig. 7, no. 10).
In Italy the use of the pulvino ended with Byzantine architecture; Romanesque architecture adopted for the same purpose a large stone placed above the capital (baptistery of Pisa), sometimes decorating it with leaves and other stylized motifs (S. Flaviano of Montefiascone). In countries beyond the Alps, however, the pulvino is still found in the 11th century, especially in Great Britain (church of Wing, bell tower of Barton-on-Humber) and in Germany (S. Justinus of Höchst on the Main). Generally it presents smooth faces, but sometimes it was decorated with foliage (S. Sophia of Constantinople).