A pair of antique Art Deco obelisks in rare Thuya burl wood, likely made in France in the 1920s as part of the Egyptian revival fad after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.  They have a carved stepped plinth (with one small chip to the base of one as shown). Thuya Burl is an exotic wood that the Greeks named thuya, meaning sacrifice, because they used an oil distilled from it as incense in their religious ceremonies. Scholars believe that obelisks represented eternity and immortality, and their long, tapering form functioned to connect the heavens and the earth. These obelisks would look great on a mantelpiece on display.