Candlestick

Candelabrum assembled from several cast segments, presumably as it was in antiquity. Curved, leonine tripod feet resting on ring bases set off by a beaded moulding. Between the legs are pendant, five leaved palmettes with grooved borders. Shaft is facetted, octagonal, set off with a series of mouldings where it joins the base: ovolo, beaded, plain in ascending order. Bottom of shaft is a tang set into a circular hole through the center of the base, fixed with sloppy, poured bronze or alloy. At the top of the shaft is an echinus shaped inverted bowl with rings around its edge, and an engraved lotus motif on its top surface. All that remains of the crown is the bipartite spool with a beaded moulding at center and bottom edge, and a double, smooth moulding at the top edge. Traces of a crosspin are visible protruding from the lower segment of the spool. Missing are the four branched candle spikes (cf M12924) and statuette finial the top of the spool has a deep, rectangular recess to receive the tang or dowel of this The underside of the inverted bowl is marked with a letter L presumably incised into the cold bronze for assembly (surface corrosion makes this appear as if it had been incised in the wax before casting.)