Vintage Maruhon Ware Majolica Chamberstick in Green Leaves and Blue Forget Me Nots

A vintage Maruhon Ware majolica style chamberstick candle holder from Japan, moulded with green leaves and a ring of blue forget me nots on a soft primrose yellow ground.

Small, cheerful and a little bit storybook, this is the candle holder you reach for when you want one pretty thing beside the bed. Raised leaves fan out across the dish, each one veined and glazed in a clear apple green, while tiny blue forget me nots with yellow centres run around the edge like a daisy chain. The candle cup has a gently scalloped rim washed in pale blue, and a curling leaf handle sits to one side, just right for a finger and thumb.

Maruhon Ware was made in Japan for export, and pieces stamped Made in Japan with the K in a circle mark usually date from the early 1920s to 1941, when Japanese potteries were sending colourful moulded wares inspired by Victorian majolica to shops in Britain, America and Australia. Ours carries that mark beneath, along with Japanese characters, so it may well have been lighting someone's way to bed for the best part of a century.

It measures 9cm in diameter and 4cm high and takes a standard dinner candle.

It has clearly been loved and used. The black painted rim has worn away in places, with small nibbles and glaze loss around the edge, and there is light crazing and some marks to the glaze in keeping with its age. We think the wear only adds to its charm, but please look closely at the photographs.

Set it on a nightstand with a short taper for evening reading, tuck it onto a bookshelf among old cloth bound books, or group it with green and yellow ceramics on a kitchen windowsill. It sits happily in a spring or Easter table setting too, and makes a sweet little gift for anyone who loves forget me nots, cottage style interiors or Japanese export pottery.