POST MEDIEVAL CANDLE HOLDER

1500

Incomplete cast copper alloy candle holder, hexagonal in plan with a flaring cup and an opposed-angled base collar above a voided ring mount which would have attached to the base of the candle holder with its integral rivet. There are two moulded ribs around the hexagonal opening and one rib at the base. Between these raised ribs are circular holes above rectangular slots on opposing sides of the holder. These slots were presumably used to allow for a lever to push the candle upwards as it was used and shortened. There are transverse file marks all over the exterior and interior of the ring mount. The height from the upper edge of the cup to the rivet is 62 mm and the diameter of the cup tapers from 17 mm at the top to 12 mm at the base and is 3 mm thick. The ring mount is 26 mm in diameter and 4 mm thick.Egan (2005) illustrates a very similar candle holder on page 80, Fig.68, No.335, and a drawing of how the whole candle holder would have looked in No.335a, which was wrongly dated from the 17th century but is now thought to be 16th century in date, and which he states represents the highest quality of mass-produced candle holders at the time.