1st-2nd century AD. A high-quality lamp stand of heavy construction with impressive detailing, the tripod base modelled as lion paws with separately modelled toes and claws, legs with floral detailing; fluted shaft with floral finial, female theatre masks in between the emerging petals; a circular lamp-tray above with moulded detailing; the footed oil lamp with elongated body, splayed and fluted nozzle with rounded tip, heart-shaped filling hole to the discus, wide curving handle with a theatre mask finial, portraying a tragic female mask with incised detailing, the palmette below the mask absent. See Bailey, D.M., A catalogue of the lamps in the British Museum, IV, Lamps of metal and stone, and lampstands, London, 1996; Roberts, P., Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, London, 2013; for an identical candelabrum in the British Museum see Bailey, 1996, nn.Q3871-Q3882, 3911; for similar bronze lamps in British Museum, see Bailey, 1996, nn.Q3669 (intact) and Q3670 (only the identical mask is preserved).7 kg total, 1.3m including lamp (51 1/4"). Property of an English collector; acquired in the Netherlands before 2000; accompanied by an archaeological report by Dr. Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10390-169265. A number of similar candelabra have been found at Pompeii and on the other sites that were buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD (Roberts, 2013, p.120"). Usually the tray, the top, the shaft and the feet were all separately made and joined with rivets and bolts. An oil lamp, made of either bronze or terracotta, would have stood on the bell-shaped top. These bronze lampstands often have elaborate feet and the shaft, as in this case, was decorated with fluting, or alternatively with a knobbed finish, imitating a wooden stem or branch. The lamp surmounting this candlestick is of Loeschke type XX, a type which have splayed, fluted nozzle and mostly upcurved handles. Many of these lamps were made in Italy, but some of them are found in the East. [A video of this lot is available to view on TimeLine Auctions website.]