Newari Circular Oil Lamp

Heavy, rough-hewn dish with a shallow well and a surface like weathered rock.

This circular stone oil lamp is Newari, from Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. Oil lamps burn a wick resting in a small reservoir of oil, and in South Asia the lamp is widely used in worship as a symbol of light. Low, broad vessel in dark gray with a rounded, uneven profile and a shallow depression in the top. Fine ridges mark one side of the rim. The surface is pitted and crusty, with pale patches where it has rubbed smooth. It is 5 inches wide, 5 deep and 1.5 high.

It wears its roughness like a badge and holds nothing back.