Mau, August: Pompeii: its life and art (New York , London: The MacMillan Company, 1899)

HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE

367

shaft rises sometimes directly from the union of the three legs
at the centre, sometimes from a round, ornamented disk resting

on the legs. Above the shaft is usually an ornamental form, a

sphinx, as in our illustration, a head,
or a vase-like capital sustaining the
round flat top on which the lamp
rested. Occasionally the shaft is re-
placed by a conventional plant form.
Adjustable standards also occur;
the upper part slides up and down in
the hollow shaft of the lower part,
so that the height can be changed
at will.
The bronze lamp holders were
sometimes designed to support a
single lamp (Fig. 192). Frequently
the main part divides into two
branches, each of which sustains a
small round disk for a lamp; often
the arms or branches were designed
to carry hanging lamps. The exam-
ple shown in Fig. 193 is from the
villa of Diomedes.
In the lamp holders conventional
plant forms are more frequently met
with than in the standards. The
trunk of a tree with spreading
branches is especially common (Fig.
194).
The lamp stands, which resemble
diminutive bronze tables, are found
in a pleasing variety of form and or-
nament. The top is sometimes a
round disk resting on a single leg
supported by three feet; sometimes,
as in the example presented in
Fig. 195, the legs are carried to the
top, and the intervening spaces are


Fig. 191. — Lamp standard, of bronze,
utilized for ornamentation.