The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 19, 2022

Water Ewer for Rituals (Kundika)

청동 정병 (靑銅淨甁)

1100s

Korea, Goryeo period

(918-1392)

Bronze

Overall: 39.5 cm (15 9/16 in.)

Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of David S. Utterberg 1991.58

Location

236 Korean

Fun Fact

This distinctively shaped vessel is called a <em>kundika </em>in Sanskrit, simply referring to a water bottle.

Description

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.

Citations
Choi, Eung-chon. “Craftsmen in Metal Arts in the Goryeo Dynasty [고려시대 金屬工藝의 匠人].” Misulsahak yeongu (2004): 171-192. www.dbpia.co.kr
Cunningham, Michael R. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 133 www.jstor.org
Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003.
The spirit of Goryeo in metalcrafts [금속 공예 에 깃든 고려인 의 삶]. Seoul: Jeju National Museum and National Cheongju Museum, 2011.
Bronze in Life and Art [삶과 예술 속. 청동 靑銅 이야기] National Cheongju Museum (2016).
Goryeo: The Glory of Korea [대고려, 그 찬란한 도전]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2018.
Exhibition history

Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991).

Object in Focus: Kundika. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 15-September 14, 2003).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.58