Black Round Metal Spike Candle Holder Pillar Candle Plate

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There is a single example on the database of what may be an ‘hour-glass’ Roman candle-holder, DENO-E13701. Early-medieval candle-holders Zoomorphic copper-alloy candle-holders are come in two variants. One is quite naturalistic, but the other (the Geraardsbergen type) is a tripod form where the three legs are formed into the shapes of animal heads and front legs. Examples on the PAS database include fragments of shaft SF-DB9EE4, KENT-CA9970 and IOW-5D55C5. No detached legs have yet been identified. Ward Perkins (1940, 180-1) traces a convincing evolution of the everyday table-top cast copper-alloy candle-holder, from those with a triangular base and three small feet, to a circular base with three small feet, to the simple circular form current around 1500 AD (see below for this).

There is a complete example of one of these candle-holders in the Victoria and Albert Museum ( acc. no. M.355-1956), and a pair in the Metropolitan Museum, New York ( acc. no. 32.100.285-6; published in Boehm and Taburet-Delahaye 1996, no. 134). They are dated to c. 1280-1320 AD and 1290-1310 AD respectively. Adjustable Adjustable candle-holders are flimsy and small, and are made from several pieces. When recording one, put ‘adjustable’ in the Classification field. Medieval candle-holders come in several highly standardised forms. Unfortunately there are a lot of folding or collapsible candle-holders, and several which have a tripod foot, and more than one zoomorphic type. It is therefore useful to have standard terms in the Classification field for the commoner types.When Alfred and his father Æthelwulf travelled to Rome in the 850s, among their gifts to the Pope was “a gilded silver candle-holder in the Saxon style”. So early-medieval candle-holders did apparently exist, but we don’t have any yet recorded on the PAS database. Perhaps they were all as large as this one in Essen Cathedral, made c. 1000 AD. Medieval candle-holders

There are two similar copper-alloy candle-holders in the collection of the Museum of London, both with four instead of three legs; no. 1501 and no. 32.2/16. A second, very distinctive type of tripod folding candle-holder was made in Limoges. They have three separately made curved legs, with loops at one end which are threaded onto the bottom of the candle-holder’s shaft. These were either spread out to support the candle-holder while standing, or swung round to make a more compact shape for travelling or storage. The legs are decorated with enamelled pseudo-heraldic devices, and several have been recorded on the PAS database; see SF-417281 for a list. Put ‘Limoges style’ in the Classification field.Two simple adjustable candle-holders. Left, DOR-11C892; right, WILT-21F000. Late medieval or early post-medieval candle-holders Examples of candle-holders with a triangular tripod base include NMS-DC4BF7. Examples of those with a circular tripod base include LON-6C500D (a lead-alloy example with a religious inscription) and PUBLIC-C37065 (which is thought to be a French import, following Egan 1998, 149-50). Two circular tripod candle-holders (left, KENT-28DF24; right, LON-6C500D). Note the wide aperture on KENT-28DF24. Good images of a triangular tripod candle-holder proved hard to find. Zoomorphic (including the Geraardsbergen type) There are several lead-alloy toy candle-holders in the Museum of London, catalogued in Forsyth and Egan 2005, 181-3. The earliest date to the 17th century, although Forsyth and Egan suggest that there may be occasional earlier examples. The bases are generally 24-40mm in diameter and the candle-holders 40-60mm tall. This guide only covers metal candle-holders; details of how to record ceramic candle-holders can be found in the guide to Ceramics.