A BLACK STONEWARE EWER, CHONGBYONG Korea, Goryeo dynasty, 12th-13th century

A BLACK STONEWARE EWER, CHONGBYONG
Korea, Goryeo dynasty, 12th-13th century

40 cm high

Provenance: ambassador Francesco Rausi.

Originally from India, where it is known by the term kundika, the shape of this ewer is present throughout East Asia, very popular also in Korea.
Widely used in Buddhist rituals as a water sprinkler, the kundika is especially associated with the bodhisattva Gwaneum (in Sanskrit Avalokitesvara), a deity connected with mercy and compassion, who used this type of container to pour the nectar of the Law on devotees, as can be perfectly seen in a Korean painting of the 13th-14th century in the Musée nacional des Arts asiatiques-Guimet in Paris (P. Cambon, L'Art coréen au musée Guimet, Paris 2001, n. 30).