A crocket capital is a capital decorated with leaves whose ends are rolled over so that they read as buds. Each leaf finishes in a curl closely resembling a crocket, which is where the English name comes from; in Dutch it is called a knopkapiteel or bud capital.
The crocket capital is usually a variant of the chalice capital: the core has the cup shape that mediates between the round shaft and the square abacus, and the leaves with their curled tips sit on that core.
Where you find it
- Early Gothic — the type appears above all between roughly 1130 and 1230, in the transition from Romanesque to Gothic
- Columns and piers in naves, ambulatories and cloisters
- Portals and window surrounds
- Gothic Revival, which took the motif up again in the nineteenth century
How to recognise it
- A cup-shaped core between shaft and abacus
- Leaves rising from the base and curling outward at the top
- A closed, almost abstract form — unlike the later Gothic foliage capital with naturalistic ivy, oak or vine
Practical tips
- The curled leaf tips are the most vulnerable part — they stand proud and are the first to break off through contact or frost; protect them physically during scaffolding work
- Photograph all four faces before restoration — capitals in a row resemble each other but are rarely identical, and the pattern cannot be reconstructed afterwards
- Clean dry or at low pressure — the deep relief holds dirt, but that is exactly where the stone is thinnest
- Keep repairs restrained, using a mortar or stone softer than the original
Related terms
- Capital
- Chalice capital
- Foliage capital
- Crocket
- Gothic
- Column
- Shaft
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