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Fragment of a Roman candelabrum or decorative shaft
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Fragment of a Roman candelabrum or decorative shaft
Close-grained Greek marble
Height: 14cm
Diameter (top): 9cm
Diameter (bottom): 11cm
Diameter (top): 9cm
Diameter (bottom): 11cm
Museum number: S92
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 191
On display: Study
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
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Curatorial note
The enrichment on this fragment consists of two strips of large, overlapping palm leaves running in bands around the curved surface. The centres of the leaves are grooved to indicate vein structure.
This piece is comparable to nos. 567 and 568 and other unnumbered fragments in the Antiquario of the Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa), Tivoli. A similar fragment is shown in a Piranesi etching (Della Magnificenza ed Archittetura de' Romani, Various fragments of columns and a bas-relief)1.
Two complete candelabra or decorative shafts, mounted on rectangular cineraria, are displayed in the interior courtyard (Fenway Court) of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. They are of the type which could have come from Villa Adriana at Tivoli2.
1 Wilton Ely 768
2 See The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Catalogue of Sculpture, Boston, 1975, no. 38 (one in the form of a twisted vine) and references (including the Soane fragments). See also G. Lippold, Die Skulpturen des Vaticanischen Museums, III, 2, Berlin, 1956, Galleria dei Candelabri, pls. 115, nos. 22, 25; 166, nos. 24, 27 etc.
This piece is comparable to nos. 567 and 568 and other unnumbered fragments in the Antiquario of the Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa), Tivoli. A similar fragment is shown in a Piranesi etching (Della Magnificenza ed Archittetura de' Romani, Various fragments of columns and a bas-relief)1.
Two complete candelabra or decorative shafts, mounted on rectangular cineraria, are displayed in the interior courtyard (Fenway Court) of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. They are of the type which could have come from Villa Adriana at Tivoli2.
1 Wilton Ely 768
2 See The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Catalogue of Sculpture, Boston, 1975, no. 38 (one in the form of a twisted vine) and references (including the Soane fragments). See also G. Lippold, Die Skulpturen des Vaticanischen Museums, III, 2, Berlin, 1956, Galleria dei Candelabri, pls. 115, nos. 22, 25; 166, nos. 24, 27 etc.
Provenance
Unrecorded.
Literature
Hans-Ulrich Cain, Römische Marmorkandelaber, Mainz, 1985, no.184
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk