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Bronze pear-shaped bottle China, early Tang dynasty, 7th century AD Height: 8 5/8 inches, 22 cm
This slender and elegant bottle takes the form of the amrita kalasha, the Buddhist holy water bottle, meant to contain the amrita or elixir of long life. Bottles such as this were not only carried by Buddhist priests, they are also the usual attribute of the compassionate bodhistattva Avalokitesvara, more commonly known as Guanyin. The shape of this bottle also occurs in ceramic form, often covered in a cream or sancai glaze. A similar bronze bottle is in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto which also holds two examples in glazed stoneware (1). Another bronze example was included in the exhibition The Art of the T’ang Dynasty (2). 1 See: Royal Ontario Museum, the T.T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art (Toronto 1996), plate 67 |
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