Indian Wood Bottle Stopper, Based

Triangles, slits and tiny eyes stack up the front like a totem for geometry.

This carved wood bottle stopper with a base is from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, and dates to the 19th century. Stoppers of this kind were made to seal bottles, and their carved crowns gave craftsmen a compact surface for ornament. A tall four-sided form, narrow at the top, is cut with nested triangles, rows of slim vertical openings and small diamond shapes. A straight, rough stem leads down to a black base. The surface is mid brown, dry and finely scratched. It is 2.5 inches wide, 2.5 deep and 10.75 high.

The maker clearly refused to leave any surface blank.