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

Object Details

• 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.

• Provenance

  ?-2005

  Mr. and Mrs. Osborne (1914-2004) and Gratia Hauge (d. 2000) [1]

  From 2005

  The National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, by gift of Osborne and Gratia Hauge, and Victor and Takako Hauge [2]

  Notes:

  [1] The Hauge family began collecting Asian paintings, sculpture, and ceramics in the late 1940s and would amass a large collection in the post-World War II years.

  [2] Ownership of collected objects sometimes changed between members of the Hauge families. See Deed of Gift, dated October 16, 2005, copy in object file. From 2005-2023 the work was part of the National Museum of Asian Art’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection and on March 21, 2023, the work was internally transferred to the National Museum of Asian Art Collection.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Asian Traditions in Clay: The Hauge Gifts (October 29, 2000 to April 22, 2001)

  Arts of Cambodia (April 5, 1997 to August 10, 2000)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mr. and Mrs. Osborne and Gratia Hauge ((1914-2004) and (1907-2000))

• Origin

  Cambodia or Northeast Thailand

• Credit Line

  Gift of Osborne and Gratia Hauge

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1400s, 1000s

• Name

  Hauge, Osborne and Gratia

• Place

  Cambodia, Thailand

• Topic

  Worshiper, Art, Hauge collection, Stoneware, Brown and black glaze, Southeast Asian Art, Ceramics, Angkor period (802 - 1431)

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)