Chinese Base with Triple Lotus Motif (Large)

Pointed petals stacked in rings, perched on a fat rounded base with a key-fret edge.

This large base with triple lotus motif is from China. Mahogany is a dense, reddish hardwood, and its even grain allows relief carving of petals and curves to be cut crisply and polished. Round stand with a shallow dish on top, rimmed by overlapping pointed petals in several rows. A bead ring sits at the neck above a swollen base carved with rounded leaves and a fine fret border at the bottom edge. It is 2 inches high and 3.75 in diameter.

All this flourish, just to hold something else up.