Typical dwelling of middle class merchants,
enriched at the end of the 1st century AD thanks to commercial trade, composed by the aggregation of several houses. The most lavish area of the house
is located around the garden and a large triclinium overlooks its porch with a centre box of the floor decorated with inlaid marble, opus sectile, with rose and lotus flowers, unique in the Pompeii landscape. There is a small chapel in the garden dedicated to worship, decorated by a large painting of Mars and Venus. A number of statues, originally in the garden, were moved to other rooms of the house at the time of the eruption to avoid being damaged by the restorations in progress. Among these is a remarkable bronze statue of Ephebe, reworking of Greek themes of the 5th century BC, which is now found at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, adapted for use as a lamp bearer, which gave the name to the house.

The house probably belonged to Publius Cornelius Tages, a wine merchant whose name appears in the electoral inscriptions read near and on amphorae found inside the dwelling.

Date of excavation: 1912; 1925.