Indian Candle Holder with Single Niche

A pale slab with a pointed-arch niche cut into its face.

This marble candle holder with single niche is from Rajasthan, India, and is contemporary. Rajasthan is a well-known source of marble, and stone carvers there have worked it for centuries into architecture, inlay and decorative objects. A rectangular block in off-white with a shallow recessed panel framed by stepped moldings. The niche has a pointed arch with small scalloped shoulders, and the surface is lightly stained and soft at the edges. It is 6 inches wide, 4 deep and 7 high.

A doorway for something very small and very patient.