Church of Saint-Andoche, Saulieu, Burgundy, France

The Romanesque Figural and Foliate Capital from the Church of Saint-Andoche, Saulieu

2146

High Romanesque Period (c. 1120–1140)

A high-relief Burgundian limestone nave capital from the Church of Saint-Andoche at Saulieu, closely related stylistically to the sculpture of the Basilica of St. Lazare at Autun. The central field features a human figure interacting with rearing animals, while grotesque masks and canine heads peer from the top and sides, and a prominent central mask at the base disgorges foliage — a layered program combining narrative, apotropaic, and vegetal-generative motifs within a single capital.