'Shringar' Pillar Candle Holder Set of 2 in Wood

Provenance

Printed wood pillar candle holders with a jewelled, ornamental surface and metal ring handles, from North Indian woodcraft. In Indian aesthetic theory, the nine rasas describe the fundamental modes of experience: of these, shringar — the rasa of love, beauty, and adornment — is the primary one, from which all others proceed. Shringar encompasses the decorated room, the dressed body, the ornamented object, the arrangement of flowers before a threshold. It is the principle that beauty offered to another is a form of care.

The jewelled surface print on these holders draws from the vocabulary of Indian jewellery-making: the faceted gem, the kundan setting, the layered stone that holds and reflects light. The smaller scale of this set — 4" x 5" and 4" x 3" — gives it an intimate quality suited to a dressing table, a puja shelf, or a bedside surface. Objects of shringar belong in the spaces where personal attention is given and received.

Disclaimer

• These holders are handcrafted in wood with a printed surface. Variations in tone and colour are a natural feature of the process.
• Minor differences in print registration or surface texture should be understood as the signature of individual craft, not a defect.