Indian Wood Temple Frame

Faded forest green with red edging, and a beaded arch like a little shrine.

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. Upright panel in worn green paint, scuffed through to bare brown at the top and edges. Red trim lines the inner frame, and rounded beads trace a tall cusped opening cut through the center. It is 7 inches wide, 1.5 deep and 11.25 high.

The paint has mostly left, but the style stayed.