Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/275

 Furniture and Ornament about the Temple. 249 testifies to the profound modification which the hand of time or fashion had brought to bear on mensular forms. The trumpets about the table did the same office as our church bells. Opposite to the table was the " seven-branched candlestick of pure gold." The stem was made up of bosses and leaves alternating ; the six branches were segments of circles, curving out at regular intervals with a bowl or boss under each pair of branches, coming to one height above and ranging in one line of lamps along with the centre light. The bowls were nut or almond-shaped, with foliated involucrum curling over the lower part of the fruit, the receptacle of the oil and wick. It was kept always lighted, and its peculiar Fig. 161.— Bas-relief on Arc of Titus, Rome. shape, rigorously preserved in the three temples, was likely to make a deep impression on the heathen nations of antiquity. We have reproduced it, on an enlarged scale, to enable the reader to see the winged animals sculptured on its base, as well as the ring of conventional petals on the lower part of the stem, spread out like an inverted lily or flower cup (Fig. 162). The candlestick, although somewhat modified in shape, is met with on the walls of ancient synagogues ; and it has been discovered in Jewish cemeteries of the Roman period in many parts of Italy. The lights were symbols of the Divine Presence, and seven was the " number of perfection ; " such as the seven Spirits of God,