Indian Wood Temple Frame

Plain on top, elaborate below, with a square window at the heart of it.

This carved teak temple frame is from Karnataka, South India, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. It is carved teak wood. Hindu household and temple shrines commonly hold images of deities, and the carved surround is meant to honor the presence of the sacred within it. Panel with a smooth, reddish upper block above concentric stepped rectangles and rows of small notched ridges. A small square opening is cut through the center, and the surface is smooth and slightly worn at the edges. It is 4 inches wide, 1 deep and 5.25 high.

A tidy hole in the middle of a good deal of fuss.