| Paintings and mosaics in Pompeii and Ercolano: |
Organic candelabrum
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 This
candelabrum belonged to a red and black-panelled mature Third
Style wall and together with another 104 pieces was collected on
the 14th August 1778 from a house which had already been
excavated for the first time between January and March 1764 as
part of the work being done in the insula occidentalis of the
regio VI, probably at street number 13. The pieces were
assembled into various panels inasmuch as it immediately became
clear how difficult it would be to reconstruct the entire
original decoration because of the widespread deterioration.
Notwithstanding this, however, the "refined nature and exquisite
taste" of the painting was much appreciated.
The candelabrum, which crosses a white-coloured section placed
as a division between panels, seems to correspond to the 1778
description of "decoration as if for a newel, in the middle of
which is a straight festoon with ornamental cloth partially
wrapped around it, and hanging from some branches which grow out
from the festoon itself is some game, some hinds, flowers, and a
circle of figurines, all embellishing this ornament which has a
white background with one red side and one black one.
An analysis of those fragments recovered, and recomposed in at
least seventeen panels as early as the 18th century, enables us
to establish that this is the probably the remains of a
decorative triclinium, almost identical to that partially
reconstructed from fragments found in excavations which took
place in the 1980s in the garden of the House of the Golden
Bracelet, as suggested by the habit of inserting animals, masks
and ritual objects.
Bibliography: PAH I, 1 p. 298-299
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Fonte: MANN
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