Gourd-shaped bottle in form of a worshipper; neck missing, lid a modern addition

Gourd-shaped bottle with head and hands of a worshipper (neck missing, replaced by attached lid). Wheel-thrown from coils, with incised, impressed and applied decoration. Base flat, smooth. Traces of seam around outer edge of base indicate that vessel was thrown from coils attached to edge of base made as flat disk. Gourd-shaped bottle with slightly squared lower section representing “body,” widest diameter at “hip”; upper section nearly spherical representing “head.” Original neck missing.
Clay: stoneware, reddish on surface, light gray in interior (visible in chip on left ear), not completely fused.
Decoration: outside of foot trimmed vertically, topped by narrow ridged bevel, followed by wide bevel. On the torso, slight vertical depression corresponding to “spine.” Small hole poked for “navel.” Upper arms indicated by broadly-angled vertical cuts; forearms and clasped hands applied and modelled, with incised details of bracelets on both wrists, and fingers (three lines on right hand, four lines on left). Applied buttons for nipples. Around upper edge of torso, “necklace” suggested by multi-grooved horizontal band (combing?) beneath applied coil impressed with closely spaced diagonal lines.
On the head, features applied and detailed with incised lines: crescent-shaped eyebrows with closely-spaced vertical incised lines, meeting above nose; narrow nose ending in point; oval eyes bisected by horizontal incised lines suggesting closely eyelids; horizontal mouth with clearly defined lips; elongated ears with details added by round “flower” stamp impressed above vertical incised line. At upper edge, multi-grooved (combed?) horizontal band.
Original bottle neck broken off. Adhered lid, originally from another vessel: flat band with radiating incised lines enclosing squared edge of flat tier which rise to support everted rim with scallops impressed into edges, pointed cone-shaped center with incised tiers.
Glaze: iron glaze, chocolate-brown glaze with dull luster, numerous small ochre-yellow specks, opaque black where thicker. At lower edge of glaze on “torso,” color streaks unevenly to ochre-yellow. The glaze appearance indicates less than optimal firing temperature. The glaze ends in five or six irregular swags overlapping the upper bevel, indicating that the vessel was glazed by inverting it into a vat of glaze and rotating it to glaze all sides completely.

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Historical period(s)
Angkor period, 1075-1430
Medium
Stoneware with iron glaze
Dimensions
H x W x D: 26.1 x 16.2 x 16.2 cm (10 1/4 x 6 3/8 x 6 3/8 in)
Geography
Cambodia or Northeast Thailand
Credit Line
Gift of Osborne and Gratia Hauge
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Collection
Accession Number
S1996.109a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bottle

Keywords
Angkor period (802 - 1431), brown and black glaze, Cambodia, Hauge collection, stoneware, Thailand, worshipper
Provenance

From circa 1970-72 to 1996
Mr. and Mrs. Victor Hauge [1]

From 1996
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Osborne and Gratia Hauge in 1996 [2]

Notes:

[1] Object file. Most likely acquired from a dealer in Ayutthaya or Bangkok, circa 1970-1972.

[2] Ownership of collected objects sometimes changed between the Hauge families.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Mr. and Mrs. Osborne and Gratia Hauge (1914-2004) and (died 2000)

Description

Gourd-shaped bottle with head and hands of a worshipper (neck missing, replaced by attached lid). Wheel-thrown from coils, with incised, impressed and applied decoration. Base flat, smooth. Traces of seam around outer edge of base indicate that vessel was thrown from coils attached to edge of base made as flat disk. Gourd-shaped bottle with slightly squared lower section representing "body," widest diameter at "hip"; upper section nearly spherical representing "head." Original neck missing.
Clay: stoneware, reddish on surface, light gray in interior (visible in chip on left ear), not completely fused.
Decoration: outside of foot trimmed vertically, topped by narrow ridged bevel, followed by wide bevel. On the torso, slight vertical depression corresponding to "spine." Small hole poked for "navel." Upper arms indicated by broadly-angled vertical cuts; forearms and clasped hands applied and modelled, with incised details of bracelets on both wrists, and fingers (three lines on right hand, four lines on left). Applied buttons for nipples. Around upper edge of torso, "necklace" suggested by multi-grooved horizontal band (combing?) beneath applied coil impressed with closely spaced diagonal lines.
On the head, features applied and detailed with incised lines: crescent-shaped eyebrows with closely-spaced vertical incised lines, meeting above nose; narrow nose ending in point; oval eyes bisected by horizontal incised lines suggesting closely eyelids; horizontal mouth with clearly defined lips; elongated ears with details added by round "flower" stamp impressed above vertical incised line. At upper edge, multi-grooved (combed?) horizontal band.
Original bottle neck broken off. Adhered lid, originally from another vessel: flat band with radiating incised lines enclosing squared edge of flat tier which rise to support everted rim with scallops impressed into edges, pointed cone-shaped center with incised tiers.
Glaze: iron glaze, chocolate-brown glaze with dull luster, numerous small ochre-yellow specks, opaque black where thicker. At lower edge of glaze on "torso," color streaks unevenly to ochre-yellow. The glaze appearance indicates less than optimal firing temperature. The glaze ends in five or six irregular swags overlapping the upper bevel, indicating that the vessel was glazed by inverting it into a vat of glaze and rotating it to glaze all sides completely.

Published References
  • Louise Allison Cort, George Williams, David P. Rehfuss. Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia. Washington. .
  • Louise Allison Cort, Massumeh Farhad, Ann C. Gunter. Asian Traditions in Clay: The Hauge Gifts. Washington, 2000. cat. 79, p. 148.
  • Louise Allison Cort. Kumeeru touki: Haugi Correkushon wo chushin to shita kumeeru toki no kenkyu [Khmer Ceramics: Research on Khmer Ceramics Centering on the Hauge Collection]. no. 22. cat. 79, p. 166.
  • Thomas Lawton, Thomas W. Lentz. Beyond the Legacy: Anniversary Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. vol. 1 Washington, 1998. p. 211, fig. 5.
Collection Area(s)
Southeast Asian Art
Web Resources
Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia
Google Cultural Institute
F|S Southeast Asia
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