(2) Chinese Qing Style Blue and White Porcelain Dragon Altar Lamp Candlesticks. These are two blue and white porcelain pricket candlesticks of varying sizes, each featuring a wide bell-shaped base decorated with a five-clawed imperial dragon and a cup-shaped top containing a central porcelain spike.

Size: 4 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.

Chinese altar candles are ritual objects designed to mediate between the human and spirit worlds, typically placed on household or temple altars alongside incense and ancestral tablets. Traditionally made of wax or tallow and dyed red for auspiciousness, they are often molded or printed with gold characters, dragons, phoenixes, or longevity symbols that invoke blessings, protection, and continuity of the family line. Their slow, steady burn is valued not for illumination but for symbolic presence: the flame represents vitality and reverence, while the rising smoke and heat serve as a conduit carrying prayers and offerings to ancestors and deities. Unlike everyday candles, altar candles are lit according to ritual timing—festivals, death anniversaries, or divination—and are expected to burn down naturally, emphasizing respect for cosmic order, reciprocity, and the proper maintenance of spiritual relationships.

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