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Gloucester
Abbey
Gilded copper alloy candlestick
Commissioned
1107-13 by Abbot Peter and the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of St
Peter, now the Cathedral at Gloucester.
Probably one of a pair of altar candlesticks, it was made as a wax
casting in three main sections: 1. a three-sided base on dragon feet,
2. cylindrical stem, 3. hemispherical drip pan. The sections were
assembled around a central vertical iron rod which emerges as a spike
at the top. The object is covered with openwork decoration portraying
beasts and human figures enmeshed in foliage. Inscribed in Latin:
'This flood of light, this work of virtue bright with holy doctrine
instructs us, so that Man shall not be condemned to vice'. Another
inscription in 13th century characters records that the object was
given to Le Mans cathedral.
Dimensions: H.512, W. ( at base) 205mm
Bibliography
:
Stratford, N., 1984. in G. Zarnecki, J. Holt, and T. Holland, English
Romanesque Art, (Arts Council of Great Britain) 249, 247
Location and accession details
:
London, Victoria and Albert Museum, M.7649.1861
(Photo:
© Victoria and Albert Museum)
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