Water Ewer for Rituals (Kundika)
Unknown Artist
1100s
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
h. 39.5 cm · diameter of base 9 cm
Classification
Metalwork
Department
Korean Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of David S. Utterberg
Accession Number
1991.58
About this artwork
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 1100s, however, the kundika was used as aristocrats’ fancy water container for everyday use.