Indian Stone Butter Pot

A flared pot with a rolled lip and faint vertical ripples around its sides.

This carved stone butter pot is from Rajasthan, India, and dates to the mid 19th century. Rajasthan has long been a source of stone, and the region's craftsmen carved building elements, sculpture and household objects from local materials. A short, tapered vessel with a thick rounded rim and a slightly flared lower body. Rows of faint vertical marks ring the lower half, and the surface is a dry, olive-brown with a worn matte look. A small notch sits on the lip. It is 5.5 inches wide and 4 high.

Plain and patterned at once, like a quiet joke.