Alms bowl
8th-9th century
Description
Large hemispherical bowl with wide mouth, lightly inverted lip, and sides tapering inward to a rounded base—a Buddhist alms bowl (Sanskrit: pātra; Chinese bo); blackened earthenware coated with a slip solution containing clay, carbon, and gypsum and polished to a high gloss after firing.
Dimensions
H. 12.8 x Diam. 23.3 cm (5 1/16 x 9 3/16 in.)
Provenance
[J.J. Lally & Co., New York, July 2001] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (2000-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.
Related Artworks
View MoreSilver
19th centuryJapaneseSilver
17th centuryBritishMedium gray earthenware with incised and carved decoration and with traces of cold-painted pigments
3rd-2nd century BCEChineseSplashed Jun ware: light gray stoneware with robin's-egg blue glaze enlivened with purple suffusions from copper filings
12th-13th centuryChineseBlue-and-white ware: procelain with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt blue
17th centuryChineseTerracotta
4th-3rd century BCEGreekEarthenware with impressed decoration
5th millennium BCEChineseCast bronze with pale green patina
13th century BCEChineseCarved rhinoceros horn
17th centuryChineseEnameled porcelain: porcelain with decoration painted in overglaze red enamel; with spurious overglaze red enamel mark reading "Da Qing Yongzheng nian zhi" on the base
18th centuryChineseWood
ChineseTerracotta with glossy black paint
4th century BCEGreek