CAKDEI.ABRCM. 



CANDELABRUM. 



The bM* i usually triangular, with the foot of a goat, lion, or griffln 

 a* Mh angle; Mid UK abaft terminate* in a capital which support* 

 the tnr or ockrt. The flat part at the top was called by the Greek* 

 <*. or " little tablet " (tl<Ur or rimwiW). Candelabra were 

 the rtchmt ornament* of public n<l private buildings. They 

 of broiue, boo, marble, terra-cotta, and wood ; but 



; Mir We "rmiHIitn 



, from ririnwi'i works.] 



""'* "nfon*! as being made (or covered) with the precious 



"*"* . TV*** form* were varied in all pocrilile ways to please the 



tart* of Uw wealthy: sometime* the stand was a human figure, 



lolding in one hand the cup or receptacle of the oil, and ornamented 

 with gilding : 



" 81 non ton* rant juvraum ilmulacra per ardrli 

 Lampadu Igniferai maaiboa minentia drxtrU, 

 Lumlna nocturnl epnlti nt lapprdltentnr." 



(Lncretin*, il. J4.) 



These candelabra or lump-stands "in their original and simple form, 

 were probably mere reeds or straight sticks fixed upon a foot by 

 leaaanta to raise their light to a convenient height. . . . Sometime* 

 the stem in represented as throwing out buds ; sometime* it is a itick, 

 the side branches of which have been roughly lopped off, leaving 

 projections where they grew. . . . Some have a sliding shaft, like that 

 of a music stand, by which the light might be raised or lowered at 

 pleasure." The annexed cut represents two bronze candelabra, one of 

 i simple form, the other in some measure complicated. " The base 

 is formed of three goats' legs, each having a ring at each end, .' 

 The centre piece is attached to the side pieces by rivets, 8, 4, rcitml 

 which these rings are allowed to turn, so that the three lie citli. r 

 parallel when the candelabrum is taken to pieces, or may be made to 

 stand at equal distances in the circumference of a circle, in which case 

 the two exterior rings lap over each other, and are united by a move- 

 able pin. The end rings, 5, 5, 5, which are placed at different heights 

 as shown at l<, mil then be brought into the same vertical line ; and 

 the round pin, e, which terminates the stem, passes through them 

 and is secured by ftpin, 7, passing through the hole, 8, which keeps 

 the whole tight." The shaft is square and hollow, and surmounted 

 by two busts. Within this lower shaft a smaller shaft, t, plays up 

 and down, and is fixed at any desired height by the pin,/. (' Library 

 of Entertaining Knowledge ' ' Pompeii,' vol. ii. pp. 295-8.) According 

 to Pliny (' Nat. Hist.' xxxiv. 6) the finest candelabra were made at 

 Tarentum and ^Egina. 



The annexed exit of a marble candelabrum is from Piranesi's work, 

 ' Vasi, Candelabri, Urne, Tripodi, ed altri Ornamenti Antichi,' 2 vols. 

 fol. atl., Honuc, 1778. In these works excessive richness in the design 

 and delicacy in the execution are often combined. Two exquisite 

 works of candelabra, carved in marble, are preserved in the Radclifle 

 Library, Oxford. The fragments of which they are composed were 

 found in the villa of Hadrian at Tivoli, and were presented to the 

 university of Oxford by Sir Roger Newdigate. 



It appears that a smaller kind of candelabrum was used as an altar. 

 (See bas-relief engraved in the ' Muwo Chiaramonti,' vol. i.; also p. 56, 

 note 24. The plates xxxvii., xxxviii., xxxix., xl., vol. vii., 'Museo Pio 

 Clementinu mi'l Chiaramonti,' contain representations of ancient can- 

 delabra ; *ee also the dissertation of Ch. Monsignor Oaetano Mariui, 



