Lot 236
CHINESE WHITE-GLAZED WATER VESSEL, KUNDIKA
TANG DYNASTY
Auction: 06 November 2026 from 10:00 GMT
Description
唐 白釉淨水瓶
the globular body supported on a spreading foot, rising to a tall waisted neck collared by a flange and surmounted by a tapering tubular mouth, set with a bulbous spout to the shoulder, covered overall in a thin opaque glaze stopping above the foot revealing the fine white body
Dimensions
27.5cm high
Provenance
Private English collection, England;
Lee Hing Hong Kong Antiques Co., Hong Kong, 5th March 2007
英格蘭私人收藏；
Lee Hing Hong Kong Antiques Co.，香港，2007年3月5日
Footnote
Ewers of this type, known as kundika after the Sanskrit term for a ‘pure-water bottle’, were used in Buddhist ceremonies during the Tang dynasty and derived their shapes from metal prototypes; see a bronze example illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 328. See two closely comparable Tang dynasty white-glazed kundikas, both in the collection of Palace Museum, Beijing, museum no. Xin新00054779 and Xin新00009708. Similar examples were also sold at auction: one in the Carl Kempe collection, was sold at Sotheby's London,11th May 2016, lot 215. Another smaller example (21.3cm high), was sold at Christie's New York, 22 Sep 2023, lot 1054.
Report of Thermoluminescence Analysis (TL Test), Oxford Authentication Ltd., sample taken from the base, no. C126m36, the result corresponding to the stated period. With a copy of the certificate dated 27 August 2026.