CHANDELIERS EN BRONZE D’APULUM (II)
BRONZE CANDLESTICKS FROM APULUM (II)

Summary/Abstract: The Roman archeological collection of the Museum from Alba Iulia has recently been enriched with a couple of interesting bronze pieces acquired from various private collectors. These include two candlesticks (Leuchter), originating in the territory of the ancient city of Apulum. The first piece discussed is a candlestick with double hemispherical bowl, decorated with double circular incisions, engraved on wheel. The needle (or the case) for the candle is lacking, but there is an orifice in the center of the bowl for it. From the point of view of the state of conservation, besides important traces of corrosion, the bowl suffered numerous deteriorations: breaks of the walls, deformations and torsions of the metal. The second object analyzed is a base of a candlestick consisting of a leg in the shape of a torus and an abacus in the shape of a truncated cone separated by a scotia. In the middle of the upper part—decorated with concentric circular incisions on wheel—it is situated an orifice for the candle’s needle. The object is covered with patina. Within and mostly outside the leg, the burrs, which were not removed after casting, are noticeable. Candlesticks with double hemispheric bowl were discovered in most of the Roman provinces. Similar pieces were found in settlements, castra and necropolis from Germany, England, Belgium, France, Austria and Morocco. The closest analogy of the candlestick from Apulum is an exemplar discovered at Dijon. A typology and chronology of this type of candlestick was made by the German researcher H. Drescher, who concluded that these objects date from the first century to mid-third century AD. He also suggested that the pieces originating from graves could possibly have been tied to funeral practices. As regards the candlestick’s base, there is no identical parallel. However, there are a few hexagonal bases with orifice for embedding the port-candle needle among the bronze pieces from Morocco. The bronze candlesticks were usually associated with luxury furniture. Due to their artistic value, some of them were transmitted in a family for generations. Presenting an exquisite workmanship and belonging to a limited number of beneficiaries, these objects found in well-to-do houses represent a mark of prosperity of their owners and, at the same time, of the whole community.

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