A HEAVY CAST BRONZE ZOOMORPHIC SHAIVITE CEREMONIAL WATER VESSEL (GOWMUKHI)
Possibly Maharashtra or Kerala, India, 19th century

Similar in design to the more recurrent Anglo-Indian silver specimens from Kutch, Gujarat, this heavy variant cast in bronze, with a rounded, globular body resting on a drop-shaped splayed foot, the tubular spout on the front held in the mouth of a sacred cow (gow, gou), its forehead bearing an ornate ceremonial pendant, with a detached circular lid with a stylised lotus flower as finial, and a hinged curved lid at the top, the exterior decorated with three figural panels featuring the Hindu divine couple of Shiva and Parvati, and Shiva on his vehicle (vahana) Nandi the Bull, interspersed amidst stylised vegetation and surmounted by concentric fretwork bands with wave-like and braided patterns, the iconography suggesting a likely use in a Hindu temple dedicated to the cult of Lord Shiva during special ceremonies and rituals..

24cm x 33cm

3.812kg

Zoomorphic vessels like the present example are often loaded with Shaivite symbolism and were normally used in ritual settings to pour blessed water collected from the Ganges River. The spout is often designed in the shape of a cow (gow) or snake (naga). These vessels often feature as well Shiva's phallic symbol, the lingam, and lotus flowers. For a similar specimen made of silver and attributed to 19th-century Kutch, please see Bonhams London, 22 October 2019, lot 165; and another example with a coco-de-mer body is published in C. Terlinden, Mughal Silver Magnificence, XVI-XIXth C., 1987, p.170, no. 261.