This four-candle advent holder was made by the Swedish pottery Upsala-Ekeby and is impressed EKEBY 2675 on the base. Model 2675 is attributed to Harald Ostergren, the factory's long-serving artistic collaborator, and the numbering places it in the late 1930s to 1940s, shortly before he left Upsala-Ekeby in 1947.
Ostergren joined the Uppsala works in 1923 and shaped much of its everyday decorative ware through the interwar years. Contrasting glazes were one of his recurring devices, and this piece shows the approach clearly: a satin black exterior frames a bright turquoise well, while a dark, feathery glaze runs down from the rim into the colour like frost on a window.
The shallow dish has a softly lobed, quatrefoil outline, with a raised candle cup at each of the four points. The cups are glazed in a warm reddish brown, a third tone that ties the black and turquoise together once the candles are lit. The original gold foil Upsala-Ekeby label with its crown emblem is still attached to the side.
The holder is free of chips and cracks. Fine crazing runs through the turquoise glaze, there are light signs of use and a small surface mark inside the well, and the foil label is partly torn at the edge. Glaze variations typical of the period make each holder of this model look slightly different. It works as an advent centrepiece in December and as a decorative bowl the rest of the year.
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