'Mani' Glass Votive Set of 3 in Glass and Wood

Provenance

Three glass tealight cups set into a jewel-print wooden base with a gold-tone finish, from North Indian votive candleware craft. The Mani votives draw from the Indian tradition of the jewel as a source of decorative vocabulary: the brocade weaver who translates the gem into a thread colour, the miniature painter who depicts the kundan setting in gold and lapis, the woodworker who reproduces the faceted form in surface print. India's jewellery tradition has always been a source of vocabulary for other crafts.

Mani in Sanskrit is the jewel — the single gem, the concentrated luminous point. In Buddhist philosophy, the mani appears in the most celebrated phrase in the tradition: mani-padme, the jewel in the lotus, the concentrated wisdom within the flower of consciousness. Three glass cups, three flames, three points of light set on the patterned base: small and specific, the mani's quality in domestic form.

Disclaimer

• Glass tealight cups are individually fitted. Minor variations in placement are expected.
• The printed wooden base may show slight colour variations — a natural feature of the handcrafted process.