TANG DYNASTY, 7TH CENTURY

The shape of this bottle is based on a Buddhist ritual vessel that was carried by itinerant Buddhist monks and used to hold water for drinking or ritual cleansing of the hands. A similar transparent-glazed kundika is illustrated by Y. Mino, Pre-Sung Dynasty Chinese Stonewares in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1974, p. 63, no. 48. Compare, also, the kundika covered with a different glaze in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by W. Willetts, Foundations of Chinese Art from neolithic pottery to modern architecture, London, 1958, no. 164.