candle;
religious/ritual equipment
- Museum number
- 1965,0403.1
- Description
-
Candle-stock; tubular, tapering at the top; wax, painted and gilded. Decorated with a pattern of six and a half spirals. The decoration comprises firstly, a green line line bordered with gilding, on each side of the gilding flower petals in red, on each side of the petals a gilt naturalistic vine scroll, itself bordered by gilding; damage and wear of the decorative pattern at the top.
- Production date
- 14thC(early)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 550 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Text from Alexander & Binski, 1997, see bibliography:
A candlestock stood on a pricket candlestick and supported, with the aid of a metal fitting on the top, a smaller wax candle which could be replaced when necessary. The intention, since the candlestock was tapered, was to give the imperssion that very large candles were being burnt. This candlestock and another [belonging to the Master and Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge, on loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum] are without parallel and present a remarkable survival of a decorative altar fitting in wax. The naturalistic vine scroll suggests a date at the very end of the thirteenth century or the beginning of the fourteenth century. A representation of a similar candlestock appears in an early fourteenth century manuscript. The candles used by Queen Eleanor of Castile were coloured with various substancesincluding vermilion and green. In her wardrobe account for December 1289 there is a reference to a purchase of 10 lb of verdigris at 7 d per lb, which was passed to Alexander the chandler.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1987-1988 6 Nov-6 Mar, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400
- Condition
- Repaired in the middle; losses and damage at the top
- Acquisition date
- 1965
- Acquisition notes
- Text from Alexander & Binski 1987, see bibliography:
'Bt from Captain George Kett, MC, in 1965; according to him found by his great-grandfather George Kett, of Wymondham and Norwich, somewhere in Norfolk, where, prior to 1846, he had carried out much restoration work (James Rattee was apprenticed to George Kett, and in 1843, came to Cambridge where he worked for Pugin).
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1965,0403.1