1 Kings 7:17–20 gives us a detailed description of the artwork on the capitals of these two pillars. For those who are nearly thirty centuries removed from the time of the temple's construction, it is hard to gain a picture from the language. This difficulty is increased by the fact that as Donald Wiseman reminds us, the terms used are technical architectural terms of that era.1
17 There were lattices of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars, a lattice for the one capital and a lattice for the other capital.