The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-09-14
ANTIQUITY Of THE LAMP
ITS PLACE IN DOMESTIC LIFE AND
ROMANCE.
How it has been developed by art and
Science from the Primitive forms to
the Present

1t is a far cry from the most primi-
tive form of lamp-skulls of animals in
which fat was burned-to the modern
electric light, yet while the recent con-
trivance undoubtedly holds the PLAN
as an illuminant It's dazzling glare lacks
utterly the subduing poetic effect vest
ed in the older-fashioned light-givers.
More romantic than the skull lamp was
the primeval seashell, and to this day
the variety of shell known as the roar
ing buckle is suspended as a lamp
in many northern peasants cottage.
The artistic possibilities of the hanging
shell appealed to the early Greeks and
Romans who copied it in bronze and
precious metals for their lamps called
| 'luCernae.' At first these "luCernae'
were made of the commOnest pottery,
with but one wickhole. So feeble was
the light emitted by the flaXtow or other
vegetable fiber used as wicks that their
number was increased so that as many
as twelve wicks frequently contributed
to the lamps light-giving power.
! The BDmas observed the custom of
! exchanging New Years gifts-small
coins for good luck or honeycomb as an
| emblem of sweetness; but the favorite
gift was golden or bronze lamp, which
/ by its richness or novelty should COM
mend itself to the recipient. Conse-
quently neither expense nor ingenuity
| was spared in the search for unique
! ''lucernae". The museums are filled
with rare Etruscan lamps of bronze,
richly adorned with relief sculpture.
From the excavations at Herculaneum
and Pompeii we find lamps even more
delicate and tasteful than the Etruscan
| specimens. Some were tall and stately,
reminding us in general proportion of
the piano lamp which we fondly imagine
a recent institution. Among the veal
thy Romans, the lamp generally hung
from or rested upon the candelabrum,
and hardly any articles of furniture were
more beautifully wrought than these
Roman lampstands. They were general
ly of architectural design, columnar in
form, quantity and elegantly carved in
marble They usually stood on the
ground and We're from six to ten feet
high, the base often consisting of three
feet of lion, goat or griffin.
As the monastic establishments were
the workshops for all forms of medieval
art and as their best work was invaria-
bly, dedicated to the church it naturally
followed that the goldsmith and work
ers in metal made some of the finest
designs for lamps and candelabra to be
used in the service of the sanctuary
Besides the necessary use of lamps in
Subterranean churches and in the cata-
combs, where rude vessels of unglazed
pottery guided the early Christians &c
their secret religious services there was
always an oil lamp hung in the Roman
Catholic churches of Europe, indicative
of the presence of the Host in the taber-
nacle upon the altar. For this purpose
every church was furnished with large
standing candlesticks or coronas for
holding lights, one of the most inn
portant being the seven branched can
dlestick of the Milan cathedral. Fash
Toned of gilt bronze, it stands fourteen
feet high. From the base-four- winged
dragons with voluted tails interspaced
with elaborate scrollwork of symbolica
subjects-rises a central stem from
which springs three pairs of graceful
branches to hold the lights.