Gloucester candlestick

Gloucester candlestick

The Gloucester candlestick is an elaborately decorated Romanesque metal candlestick. First modelled in wax, it was then cast in three sections, and is made of bronze in an unusual mixture of copper, zinc, tin, lead, nickel, iron, antimony, arsenic and silver. The proportions of this mixture may suggest that the candlestick was made from a hoard of old coins.

There are three inscriptions in Latin. The one on the stem, above and below the central knop (or knob) refers to the donation of the candlestick and reads: 'The devotion of abbot Peter and his gentle flock gave me to the church of St Peter at Gloucester'. Peter was Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St Peter, now Gloucester Cathedral, from 1104 until his death 1113.

The candlestick is also densely decorated with a composition of wonderful figures and apes interspersed between thick intertwined shoots of foliage. Three long-eared dragons with outspread wings form the supporting feet. This type of decoration was common to northern European art of this date but the style indicates that this piece was made in England, possibly Canterbury.

Bibliography

*cite book|author=Jackson, Anna (ed.)|title= V&A: A Hundred Highlights|publisher=V&A Publications|year=2001


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