Pair of Silvered Column Candlestick Lamps
£1,800
A pair of large column candlestick lamps on wide, tiered, flared, square feet, finely chased with scrolling foliage and lotus petal motifs. The stem of each candlestick rises from the foot, first with a plain, unembellished section, followed by a complex section of alternating square and octagonal elements, each chased and engraved with scrolling vegetal, pineapple and floral panels. Flaring from the top of each candlestick stem are four dramatic capital elements, each deeply chased with scrolling foliage motifs. Each flares out with a square face that points downwards again elaborately chased with floral motifs.
Wired for electricity with tall candles and silk braided flex. These lamps can be wired in our workshop for use in any country.
The pair are based of the wooden columns found in the 14th-15th century drumming hall (digge) of the Embekke Devala near Kandy in central Sri Lanka, not only in terms of their form, but also their motifs, which mirror the intricate wood carving found at Embekke Devala.
The Embekke Devala was the meeting hall of the Gampola kings. Later it was converted into a shrine for the Sinhalese war god Kartikeya also known as Kataragama Deviyo. The hall features a multitude of pillars or columns, each profusely but uniquely carved with what has become known as typically Kandyan motifs such as dancers, addorsed swans, creepers and vines, and stylised orchids. This type of column was replicated in other important meeting halls, monasteries and temples around Kandy, most notably in the inner sanctum of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy itself.
Occasionally candlesticks in this style can be seen still in use on altars of Buddhist viharas (temples) around Kandy, but generally these are of brass rather than silver plated.
