A BLACK STONEWARE EWER, CHONGBYONGKorea, Goryeo dynasty, 12th-13th century40 cm highProvenance: ambassador Francesco Rausi.Originally from India, where it is known by the term kundika, the shape of this ewer is present throughout East Asia, very popular also in Korea.Widely used in Buddhit rituals as a water sprinkler, the kundika is especially associated with the bodhisattva Gwaneum (in Sanskrit Avalokitesvara), a deity connected with mercy and compassion, who used this type of container to pour the nectar of the Law on devotees, as can be perfectly seen in a Korean painting of the 13th-14th century in the Musée nacional des Arts asiatiques-Guimet in Paris (P. Cambon, L'Art coréen au musée Guimet, Paris 2001, n. 30).