Plutei with Centric Composition: A Starting Point in Identifying a New Stone Carving Workshop in Istria

Abstract

The paper focuses on the Istrian examples of pre-Romanesque plutei decorated with a specific version of centric compositional scheme, with diagonal axes and circular loops at the ends. Several previously published local examples have here been supplemented with segments of plutei that, due to their fragmentary preservation, have hitherto not been recognized as part of the said group. The author compares these Istrian examples with similar, more integrally preserved reliefs in the region and suggests some artistic centres from which such compositions could have been brought to the peninsula. Morphological and workmanship features of the fragments decorated with the version of centric composition considered here, and their connection with the remaining parts of the sculpture from the same localities, indicate the existence of a previously unnamed high-quality stone carving workshop, which furnished the churches of the Pula Diocese and other, neighbouring dioceses with liturgical furniture made of stone in the early 9th century. New and very complex compositions, including those with a centric base, diagonals, and circular loops at the ends, testify to a fruitful exchange of influences between the stone carvers of Istria and Veneto, and the integration of the Istrian peninsula in the contemporary artistic currents during the pre-Romanesque period.