A Bronze Candelabrum, Roman Imperial, circa 2nd/3rd Century A.D.

with triangular voluted base with tripod claw feet each resting on a spool-shaped support, each side of the base cast in relief with a palmette and bucranion, the cylindrical shaft ornamented in relief with the twelve labors of Herakles arranged in four registers of three vignettes each, the elaborate Corinthian capital supporting a bell-shaped cup decorated with encircling petals(?) and a scrolling acanthus collar, an ovolo kymation below the rim.

Gallery Sakae, Nagoya, Japan, 1982

Cf. Toronto, Greek, Roman, and Related Metalware, no. 233, for a related retractable example with spiral-fluted shaft.

In the highly inventive and eclectic fashion typical of late antique decorative arts, the present lampstand successfully combines and transforms disparate elements drawn from the repertoire of larger-scale classical architecture and ritual furniture. The Corinthian capital stands isolated as the only representative element of the Corinthian order within the object as a whole. The triangular base consciously imitates the bases of early Imperial marble candelabra (H.-U. Cain, Römische Marmorkandelaber, Mainz am Rhein, 1985, type IV). The concept of a column shaft decorated in relief with the Twelve Labours of Herakles (dodekathlon) can be traced as far back as the Greek temple of Artemis at Ephesus (s.v. Herakles, LIMC, vol. V.I, p. 7, no. 1707).