64 | structure that are also extremely naturalistic in design. In the spaces between the feet three well-shaped sheet metal palmettes with openwork. Directly below the mouth of the central sheet metal cylinder a cuff with leaf decoration running all around. The cuff, the inside of the leaves and the palmettes are gilded. The central sheet metal cylinder covered at the bottomwith a cap profiled at the rim, on the underside of which the name “VITVS OPTIMVS” is strongly incised.Opposite several weaker incisions, possibly to be interpreted as weight indications.Width from paw to paw approx. 29 cm. Weight 2.22 kg. The second piece is a precisely formed column with spirally running fluting delimited by incised lines just before the smooth, upper rim. In the upper rim two holes for fixing the following attachment with a pin. This pin is attached with a silver chain to a leaf-shaped fitting soldered to the body of the column. A vertical seam shows where the silver sheet bent to the tube or the column shaft has been welded. The lower edge is also smooth, separated from the fluting by a fine step. There again two holes, the position of which corresponds with the upper ones. A further sheet metal tube is inserted and soldered at the bottom, which disappears completely when the base and the column are plugged together, but guarantees the stability of the inserted column. In the edge of the sleeve below the A silver candelabrum of Augustan date, 1st decade B.C. - 1st decade A.D. Multi-part candelabrum of exceptional quality and extreme rarity. Assembled and dismountable from the following individual parts: 1) Solid cast foot with sheet metal appliqués. 2) Lower column shaft made of silver sheet. 3) Upper column shaft with capital of silver sheet. 4) Top made of silver sheet in the shape of a goblet with a base for an oil lamp. 5) Loose pin for fixing. The base gives stability to the candelabrum with the hollow worked tops. Three solidly cast predatory cat’s paws are brought together towards the centre and attached to a central cylindrical tube of strong silver plate. The artistic quality of the naturalistically shaped paws is extraordinary and precisely reproduces the anatomical characteristics down to the smallest detail. The pads under the toes, the claws and the tendons on the surface of the paws are meticulously worked out on the surface and finely and richly modelled in nuances. The fur is lovingly rendered by line punches at extremely even, small intervals. The paws shaped in this way and the dynamic curvature of the legs above them evoke the association of a big cat bursting with strength and ready to pounce. Towards the centre, the upper and lower legs are covered by leaves with a finely nuanced internal 38
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