Altar Mensa for the Capella Paolina (Borghese Chapel), Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, Italy
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1760
name: label: Workshop of
content: Antonio Asprucci, Italian, 1723 – 1808
label: Designer
content: Mario Asprucci The Younger, Italian, 1764 – 1804
notes: label: Catalogue Status
content: Research in Progress
label: Description
content: Design for an altar mensa intended to be executed in colored marbles and gilded ornaments. At the lateral pilasters is the coat of arms of a Prince Borghese, united with that of his wife, a Colonna. The front of the sarcophagus is supported by balusters, the upper parts of which are in front of the sarcophagus. Above the balusters, a lion mask with handles. In the middle is an oval of palm branches with a cross. The alternative suggestions refer only to different coloring. The letter "M" is written in the low head piece, "G" in the entablature of the mensa. Three steps. The altar stands in front of the central part of the base of a kind of retable, executed in marble and gilded parts. The retable is marked several times "O," as it is twice in the space of the wall, besides one "N." Only the lower part of the retable is shown, having a central part of marble and two columns on either side.
place: label: made in
content: Rome, Italy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection
label: See more items in
content: Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1938-88-4290
objectType: label: Type
content: architecture, interiors
label: Object Name
content: Drawing
label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Pen and black ink, brush and watercolor over black chalk on paper
label: Dimensions
content: Mat: 55.9 × 71.1 cm (22 × 28 in.)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 29.5 × 50.6 cm (11 5/8 × 19 15/16 in.)
label: Dimensions
content: Frame H x W x D: 60.3 × 75.6 × 2.9 cm (23 3/4 × 29 3/4 × 1 1/8 in.)