Cleveland Museum of Art

Water Ewer for Rituals (Kundika)

Date

1100s

Medium

bronze

Culture

Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)

Department

Korean Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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

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