VIII. THE DUCAL PALACE 417

§ 117. First side. “ST. SIMPLICIUS”: so inscribed. A figure working with a pointed chisel on a small oblong block of green serpentine, about four inches long by one wide, inlaid in the capital. The chisel is, of course, in the left hand, but the right is held up open, with the palm outwards.

Second side. A crowned figure, carving the image of a child on a small statue, with a ground of red marble. The sculptured figure is highly finished, and is in type of head much like the Ham or Japheth at the Vine angle. Inscription effaced.¹

Third side. An old man, uncrowned, but with curling hair, at work on a small column, with its capital complete, and a little shaft of dark red marble, spotted with paler red. The capital is precisely of the form of that found in the palace of the Tiepolos² and the other thirteenth century work of Venice. This one figure would be quite enough, without any other evidence whatever, to determine the date of this flank of the Ducal Palace as not later, at all events, than the first half of the fourteenth century. Its inscription is broken away, all but “DISIPULO.”

Fourth side. A crowned figure; but the object on which it has been working is broken away, and all the inscription except “ST. E(N?)AS.”

Fifth side. A man with a turban and a sharp chisel, at work on a kind of panel or niche, the back of which is of red marble.

Sixth side. A crowned figure, with hammer and chisel, employed on a little range of windows of the fifth order, having roses set, instead of orbicular ornaments, between the spandrils, with a rich cornice, and a band of purple marble inserted above. This sculpture assures us of the date of the fifth-order window, which it shows to have been universal in the early fourteenth century.

There are also five arches in the block on which the

¹ [This is one of the renewed capitals; the inscription is “S. CLAUDIUS.” The inscription on side 3 is “DISCIPULUS INCREDULUS.” On side 4, inscribed “S. CHASTORIUS,” is a man working on an oblong block of stone; a chisel in his left hand; a mallet has dropped from his right hand. On side 5 the inscription is “DISCIPULUS OPTIMUS.”]

² [See below, Appendix 11 (3), p. 453, where Ruskin calls it “The Braided House,” from the braided border of the capitals.]

X. 3 D

[Version 0.04: March 2008]