Wall Bracket for a Lamp

Unknown

6th century · Cast copper alloy · Medieval Art

This bracket is fashioned to resemble the stem of a vine. Round flat hanging lamps, or polycandela, were lit by oil-filled glass vessels hung from the round holes in their designs. Paul the Silentiary in 563 described the effect of huge hanging lamps that lit the great church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople: “Thus is everything clothed in beauty…no words are sufficient to describe the illumination in the evening: you might say that some nocturnal sun filled the majestic church with light.”

Artist

Unknown

Date

6th century

Medium

Cast copper alloy

Culture

Byzantine

Department

Medieval Art

Credit line

Gift of Estate of Lawrence J. Majewski, 1999