Water Ewer for Rituals (Kundika)

Description

Known as kundika in Sanskrit, this distinctively shaped vessel served to purify a sacred space and to invoke a deity. In Korean Buddhist art, it appears primarily as an attribute of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Gwaneum in Korean). By the 12th century, however, it came to serve as aristocrats’ fancy water container for everyday use.

Provenance

Robert W. Moore, Los Angeles, CA, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art (?-1986); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1986-)

Water Ewer for Rituals (Kundika)

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1100s

Accession Number

1992.141

Medium

bronze

Dimensions

Outer diameter: 13.7 cm (5 3/8 in.); Overall: 33 cm (13 in.)

Classification

Metalwork

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Robert Moore