Pair of Antique Hand-Painted Kashmiri Spindle-Twist Candlesticks

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A tall and elegant pair of Kashmiri wooden candlesticks, rising in attenuated columnar form to flared candle nozzles, each richly … Read more A tall and elegant pair of Kashmiri wooden candlesticks, rising in attenuated columnar form to flared candle nozzles, each richly lacquered and hand-decorated throughout in polychrome floral reserves over a warm gilt-ocher ground. The shafts are distinguished by a distinctive open spindle-twist midsection — a hallmark feature of traditional Srinagar papier-mâché and woodwork — above and below which bulbous knops bloom with miniature rose-and-leaf clusters rendered in vermilion, blush, saffron, and soft green. The domed circular bases expand into broad floral pools, the decoration dense and fully realized, evoking the layered surface tradition that Kashmir developed in the late 19th century for export and domestic patronage alike.

The candlesticks bear the tactile irregularity of hand-turned wood, the painting executed in fine brushstrokes with characteristic Kashmiri dot-and-drape linework edging the twisted columns. The palette and floral density recall earlier 19th-century Kashmiri papier-mâché work influenced by Persian aesthetics and Mughal garden imagery, yet the height, spindle design, and paintwork place this pair more comfortably in the mid-20th century, when workshops continued producing highly decorative household wares for the international market while preserving traditional forms.

Such tall, open-twist candlesticks reference earlier Kashmiri and north-Indian ceremonial stands, though here realized not as court objects but as later artisan studio interpretations — still fully handmade, still rooted in floral geometry, yet scaled for interior ornament and modern tablescape display.

Measures: 20" h x 6.25" w See less