aulted
in the same manner, but with semicircular section. All the vaults are
domical, and those of the nave spring from corbels carved in the style
of Venetian fifteenth-century work. This agrees with the statement that
the vaulting dates from 1427-31, and was strengthened by chains and iron
anchors in 1440. The central bay has the south door on one side of it,
the chapel of S. Giovanni Orsini to the north; and the pulpit against
the north-eastern pier marks the commencement of the choir, which is
raised two steps above the level of the nave. A stone bench runs round
the apse, but there is no sign of an episcopal seat in the centre. The
ciborium is somewhat of the type used by the Roman marble-workers in the
twelfth century, but the proportions resemble those at S. Nicola, Bari,
more than the other Italian examples. It is of grey marble, and bears
upon the western angles of the square portion figures of the Virgin and
the Angel Gabriel, the latter kneeling, for which the change to
octagonal plan for the upper portion leaves room. The figures are
fifteenth-century in character, and on the bases are the names of the
artist and of the overseer--on that of the Virgin, "Mavrvs me fecit"; on
the angels', "Bitalis qda Martini oprarii," in Lombardic letters. The
"operarii" were generally nobles, and had control of the church works. A
gilded inscription on the front of the architrave gives the angelic
greeting. The columns are of cipollino; the caps, once gilded, are very
like those of the pulpit, which seems to be of the same date. It is
octagonal and surrounded by round-arched arcading, two arches to a side,
with coupled columns on the sides and three at the angles, above single
arches resting upon shafts of precious marbles with elaborate caps which
also at one time were gilded. The design suggests the copying of a metal
original in the treatment of the foliage scrolls and the heads of the
monsters, and contrasts with the pulpit at Spalato, in which a wood
treatment of the capitals is suggested. The column for the book-rest
stands on a little lion bracket; of the eagle which once surmounted it
only the claws remain. Beneath it William, son of Baldwin, emperor of
Constantinople, was buried in 1242. The choir stalls are of the
fourteenth-century Gothic type, like those at Arbe and Zara, touched
with colour and gilding. They cost eighteen ducats of gold each, and
were restored in 1757 and 1852. The carved portions are added, not c