Water Ewer for Rituals (Kundika)
Unknown Artist
1100s
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
h. 33 cm · outer diameter 13.7 cm
Classification
Metalwork
Department
Korean Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Robert Moore
Accession Number
1992.141
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 12th century, however, it came to serve as aristocrats’ fancy water container for everyday use.