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Lot Essay
The pair to the present example is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and illustrated in Chen Hsia-Sheng, Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, National Palace Museum, Taipei 1999, pl. 60.
Another kundika from the Qianlong period is in the Qing Court Collection and illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong 2002, pl. 110.
These Qianlong ritual ewers are made after the 15th century cloisonné kundika, one of them from the Kitson Collection, now in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Sir Harry Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, London 1962, pl. 16.
Garner discusses the use of such kundika, Op.Cit., p.57 and notes that they were for sprinkling holy water in Buddhistic ceremonies. The distinctive shape of the vessel is known in the Tang dynasty where it is frequently found carried by deities in pottery and bronze. Later it was used during the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Lamaist rituals and can be seen on banners, among other holy objects before a deity or deified Lama.
Another kundika from the Qianlong period is in the Qing Court Collection and illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong 2002, pl. 110.
These Qianlong ritual ewers are made after the 15th century cloisonné kundika, one of them from the Kitson Collection, now in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Sir Harry Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, London 1962, pl. 16.
Garner discusses the use of such kundika, Op.Cit., p.57 and notes that they were for sprinkling holy water in Buddhistic ceremonies. The distinctive shape of the vessel is known in the Tang dynasty where it is frequently found carried by deities in pottery and bronze. Later it was used during the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Lamaist rituals and can be seen on banners, among other holy objects before a deity or deified Lama.