Ritual water sprinkler (kundika)

Water ewer (kundika): globular body on spreading foot; tall slender neck, wide collar and small spout.
Clay: hard off-white stoneware.
Glaze: transparent straw-colored, finely crackled, stained.

Historical period(s)
Tang dynasty, 8th century
Medium
Stoneware with straw-colored glaze
Dimensions
H x W x D (overall): 26.3 x 13.8 x 13.3 cm (10 3/8 x 5 7/16 x 5 1/4 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1909.303
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Ritual water sprinkler (kundika)

Keywords
China, stoneware, Tang dynasty (618 - 907), water
Provenance

To 1909
Yung Pao Chai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]

From 1909 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yung Pao Chai, Beijing, in 1909 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 2018, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. According to Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), pg. 18, Yung Pao Chai may have been Yongbaozhai, a shop established in the antique district of Liulichang in 1884.

[2] See note 1.

[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Yung Pao Chai (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Description

Water ewer (kundika): globular body on spreading foot; tall slender neck, wide collar and small spout.
Clay: hard off-white stoneware.
Glaze: transparent straw-colored, finely crackled, stained.

Published References
  • Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Francis Stewart Kershaw. A Chinese Buddhist Water Vessel and Its Indian Prototype. vol. 3, no. 2/3 Washington and Zurich, 1928 - 1929. p. 123, fig. 3.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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