PULVINO. - The name itself (cushion) indicates its function; it is a marble element generally placed above the capital to support the weight of the architraves or of the arches above.
It appears in the Ostian Baths of Constantine and occurs in Rome in S. Costanza, in the ancient basilicas, for example, 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 eastern or Pelagian Basilica, where a Byzantine cross is carved on the outer face; in S. Stefano both on the Caelian and on the Via Latina; in Naples in S. Giorgio Maggiore; it flourishes and develops above all in Byzantine art at Constantinople in Hagia Sophia; at Thessalonica in S. Demetrio and at Ravenna in S. Vitale, the p. are carved like embroidery, and likewise in S. Apollinare Nuovo and in S. Apollinare in Classe and in S. Giovanni Evangelista; in the cathedral of Parenzo and in that of Aquileia.
The p. of the Christian basilica of Tigzirt contain carved, for example, Daniel in a tunic between the two lions (P. Gavault, Etude sur les ruines romaines de Tigzirt, Paris 1897, p. 37 and fig. 7, no. 10).
In Italy the use of the p. ended with Byzantine architecture; Romanesque architecture adopted for the same purpose a broad stone placed above the capital (baptistery of Pisa), sometimes decorating it with leaves and other stylized motifs (S. Flaviano di Montefiascone). In the countries beyond the Alps, on the other hand, the p. is still found in the 11th century, especially in Great Britain (church of Wing, bell tower of Barton-on-Humber) and in Germany (S. Giustino di Höchst a. M.). It generally presents smooth faces, but sometimes it had foliate decorations (Hagia Sophia of Constantinople).
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Enrico Josi-Mario Zocca