Nepalese Candle Holder with Temple Monkey

Palms pressed together, a lit dish on his head, and not one complaint.

This candle holder with a temple monkey comes from the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, a contemporary piece in brass. Monkeys are familiar residents of the valley's temples, and Hanuman, the monkey deity of Hindu tradition, is widely honored for devotion, so a praying monkey makes a natural light-bearer. He squats on a stepped lotus base, his fur engraved in short strokes and his anatomy unhidden. A small lobed dish rises from a finial on his head. Seventeen inches high.

Devotion, in this case, involves some balance.