CATALOGUE

   CANDELABRO 
              TABLE TOPS 
C/ Historiador Palau, Denia

Bronze
h: 47.5 cm; d: 26 cm
Islamic
Fatimi
S. XI 

 

Table candlestick, reconstructed. It consists of three assembled parts. The base is a spherical cap with a winged rim from which three horse-hoof-shaped legs emerge; it is topped by a truncated cone-shaped pivot with a flat, curved rim. The shaft rests on this pivot, which is formed by a spherical node, a smooth hexagonal-section column and a spherical node with a flared finish to support the top plate. The saucer is formed by a truncated cylindrical disc with a flat base, short walls and a thickened rim with a slightly curved lip. The candlestick is undecorated. It is made of bronze, sand-moulded, and the three parts are joined and assembled by tin soldering.
The candelabrum is one of nine that have appeared in the set of bronzes from Denia (AZUAR, 1989, 51SS) and is a very unique piece, as no similar examples have been found on the Iberian Peninsula to date. They were studied in part by J. Zozaya (1967) and probably arrived in Denia as part of the gifts that the Fatimid Caliph sent to the Taifa Iqbal al-Daula in gratitude for the food sent to quell the famine suffered by Egypt in 1055 (AZUAR, 1989).
C.S.: 7701
TERUEL, 1988.