Antique Artifact Wooden Pillar Candle Holder (Medium)

You, me, and the design world can agree that candles -whether real or fake- look better in candle holders, and in the imperfect world of relics and artifacts, the beauty of this candle holder lies in their reimagined purpose. The pounded natural iron candle dish holds 4″ round pillar candles and has that “handed down through the generations” look. Worn yet serviceable, in a rustic interiors way.

The middle of three sizes, this artifact was initially a tallow candle holder. As the tallow candle burned, you would twist the metal around and the candle would rise to a safer burning height. It’s difficult to imagine in today’s world of flickering fake candles that anyone would take the time to monitor a burning candle.

Tallow candles originated in the Roman Empire approximately 500 BC. Tallow wax is derived from the fat of cows and sheep, and a strand of twine would be dipped repeatedly to build up layers of the fat to make a tapered candle. Today’s candles of made of paraffin wax and are typically poured not dipped. Too much information? Possibly.

Each candle holder has the burnished browns and some touch of color: this candle holder in particular has a worn vermillion red and yellow ochre (yikes, rare color words: think of brilliant red and highly prized earthy brownish yellow.)