Nepalese Candle Holder with Lotus Motif

Petals on top, petals in the middle, and a skirt of long leaves below.

This candle holder with lotus motif is from the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, and is contemporary, made of brass. Nepalese metalworkers in the valley have generally been celebrated for their lost-wax casting and repousse, and the lotus appears again and again in their work. A broad drip pan sits on a ring of lotus petals over a narrow column. A rounded knop in petals rests on a darker collar of small curled blossoms. The flared, bell-like base is ribbed in long leaves above a stepped foot engraved with scrolls. It is 11 inches high, 6.5 in diameter, and holds a thick pillar candle neatly.

The candle is the plainest thing here, and seems to know it.