A PAIR OF CONSULAT ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE THREE-LIGHT CANDELABRA

With their use of the snake motif, these candelabra are a testament of the inventiveness of the bronziers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In ancient times, snakes symbolized earth and were associated with chthonian powers, and the Greeks and Romans regarded them as guardians of sacred places and tombs. Because of this association, it is particularly fitting that candelabra branches would be cast in snake forms to provide light in the darkness of the underworld.