Duomo dei Cosmati

The mystery of the Waks Cosmati panel

Sotheby’s Sale 2018 and their description
partial, but works "intact", or "largely original", as often
they are defined, without ever advancing the slightest doubt
on the authenticity of their facies, from the time they were
made, or
of the fact that in many cases they are the result of floor
portions
9 This news forces me to make a little digression because
having
recently visited the cathedral of Santa Maria in Civita
Castellana, ed
having analyzed its Cosmatesque floor, for which I speculated
a more or less complete reconstruction, partly arbitrary, can be
achieved
to the conclusion that a part of today's floor may have been
rebuilt in the possible restorations of the late sixteenth century
also with those
remains of a cosmatesque lithostrate that Ugonio saw in the
crypt i which
they could also be the two quincuxes that can be seen today in
the transept
Fig. 41. The slab with an asymmetrical quincunx motif, coming
from a dismembered ambo, but clearly not in the style of
Lorenzo's family, as can be seen from the other pieces.Fig. 42.
Some plates,of which at least thatdefinitely higherattributable
to the Cosmatiand that recalls the spiralsdecorative madeon
the porch of theCathedral.Fig. 43. One pieceof mosaic plate
witha wonderfulpattern of squareswith which yellow stands
outancient among the serpentine.
Fig. 33. The decoration of the tenth wheel. In the external band
hthe triple sequence of squares arranged at the tip. The
external onesthey were all yellow, the central ones of porphyry
and serpentine on the backgroundWhite. We can imagine its
beauty if seenaltogether in its total development.Fig. 34. The
motif of oblong lozenges arranged at a point.
Let's imagine thatthis platedecorative of the porchof the cathedral, eithera portion of
thefloor. The little onescircles are the wheels, therectangular bands lemosaic
partitions or ledecorative bands ofquincuxes and guilloche.In this plate it isexpressed
the concept ofgeometric harmony echromatic symmetry.The same principlewhich
shouldobserve oneself in thefloorsoriginal cosmateschi,but that is not givensee in
noneexemplaryhanded down frommedieval times, if not inportions and
fragmentsremainedLuckilyintact. Here the starscosmatesche haveall the
triangleswhite on backgroundred or blue, whilethe alternation of colorsof the squares
issymmetricallyperfect. Thisprinciple is observedin almost the entire workof the
facadecosmatesca ofcathedral and thefloor nothad to be fromless
An ad quadratum decorative motif, detail of the photo above,
whichshows what its counterpart in floors should look
likecosmateschi. The octagonal stars in the center also enjoy
theprinciple of chromatic symmetry in the sequence of the
tiles. AND'It is also interesting to note the symmetrical
correspondence of the twoouter side stars which are the only
ones to be composed ofmixed colored lozenges, but in the
correct alternating colors.
Another example of the principle of perfect chromatic
symmetryin the arrangement of the tiles in the decorations of
the facade of thecathedral, even in the most complex grounds.
The central one iseasily found in the curvilinear bands of
guilloche or godsquincuxes, but it is almost never seen in a
symmetry of colorsas in this case.
The Cosmatesque spirals in the triumphal arch and the long
epigraph on the sidewith the signature of the masters Iacopo
and Cosma.