The Lantern Bearer | Whimsical

A one-of-a-kind handmade gothic shadowbox, created for lovers of dark, whimsical and naturalistic aesthetics. This piece features a real preserved Pyrops gunji lantern bug — a creature of extraordinary colour, with wings that shift between teal, gold and violet depending on the light — displayed within a hand-cast, hand-painted ornate black frame with silver and purple detailing.

The composition is set against purple velvet with vintage beige linen ornamenting it delicately, preserved purple flowers arranged around the specimen. The oval window of the frame draws the eye inward, as if peering through a keyhole into something secret and still.

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Details:

• Real preserved Pyrops gunji lantern bug specimen
• Hand-cast and hand-painted ornate black frame
• Silver and purple frame detailing
• Hand-cut lace
• Purple velvet
• Preserved purple flowers
• Vintage linen and beige fabric background
• Identification label on the reverse
• Ready to hang

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Processing:
Ready to ship.

One of a kind — you will receive the exact piece shown.

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Shipping
Carefully packaged to ensure safe delivery.
Original design — no copies permitted.

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Size
14,5cm x 11,5cm

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LORE
There is a lantern bearer who keeps to the cliffs above the sea, where the wind comes in long and low and the purple flowers grow in the cracks of the stone as though they have always been there and always will be. She does not carry her light for travellers. She carries it because the flowers need something to bloom toward in the dark, and she has decided, quietly and without ceremony, that she will be that thing.

On summer nights, when the wind is warm enough to be almost kind, she spreads her wings — teal and gold and faintly iridescent — and holds very still. The flowers lean. The sea below does not notice. She does not mind. There is a particular satisfaction, she has found, in being necessary to something small.