Detail of a Corinthian capital.
The modern wooden dowels in this image show that each of the series of holes drilled down the corner of this capital are actually comprised of two different alignments. These drill holes were a first phase of work and a channelling tool or flat chisel would then have been used to carved between them. Drilling holes at different angles would have made it easier to carve between them later. For some reason work on this section was never completed, perhaps because it was not visible from below. Capitals like this could have been carved on the ground before they were inserted into the finished structure and it could well have been the case that this capital was needed before the carver, working on the ground, had finished everything.
