Antique Gold Candle Holder

Five cups, one in the centre and four on arms that curve down and out like the pipes of a hookah, all of it in old brass with the finish gone patchy the way pital does after a few years of monsoons and Diwali polishing. The centre stem is turned in the classic baluster shape, fat in the middle and the base is a heavy stepped disc that keeps it from going over even with all five candles lit. Each cup has its own drip pan under it. Stands around 40 cm tall and spans about 50 cm arm to arm, so this is not a bedside piece, it needs a proper dining table or a sideboard to sit on.

We sell it as antique gold but anyone from a brass-using family will look at it and say pital. The colour runs from bright yellow on the cup rims where the hands touch it to a dark brown in the joints and no two come out the same. If you want it to shine like a new Moradabad piece you can take Brasso and a rag to it and it will come up bright in an hour. If you want it to look like it came out of a nani’s house, leave it alone. I’d leave it alone.

It Is Heavy

Well over a kilo, closer to two. That is the difference between this and the hollow ones you see in the Sunday markets that dent if you look at them. Pick it up once and you’ll know.

Where it would suit best?

Dining table centre for Eid dinners and Diwali evenings, a sideboard in the drawing room, the console at the entrance if your entrance is wide. It also goes well on a floor in a corner beside a big plant, at 40 cm it has enough height to hold it’s own down there. Not for a small flat where the dining table is also the study desk, it will annoy you within a week.

Wipe with a dry cloth. Brasso if you want shine, nothing if you want age. Scrape wax off with a wooden spatula, not a knife.