What is a Bobeche?

What’s a bobeche, you ask?  Well, let me tell you.

It is a bowl.  Specifically, it is a bowl on a chandelier, sconce or candelabra with the historical purpose of catching the dripping wax from a candle.  These days, most bobeches are ornamental because light bulbs don’t drip.  Also, we refer to any bowl on a chandelier as a bobeche, not just the bowl below the candle.

A bobeche can be made of wood or metal, but the prettiest ones are crystal.  Bobeches don’t have to hold prisms, but they are even prettier when they do.    Usually, tiny holes are drilled into the bobeche and a pin is inserted into the hole, then curled into a loop.  These loops hold prisms and make the world sparkly.

They can turn up like a proper bowl.  Or down like an umbrella.  Either way, they are called a bobeche.

How do you pronounce bobeche?  The proper pronunciation is bo-besh.  For some reason that we do not know, around here we say bo-bash.  Maybe because we’re Southern and never studied French.  Many people say bo-buh-shay and we think that is okay, too.  Who are we to judge?

At King’s we use a variety of bobeche styles on our chandeliers.  And, we are happy to substitute.  Just let us know how we can help!  www.chandelier.com.

-Nancy

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