Pair of Nepalese Buddhist Terracotta Salutation Temple Pedestal Basins, circa late c19th.

I am offering you here two examples which are a matched pair of ancient pedestal terracotta basins, from the ground. As with all of my listed items from Nepal, each has been processed through The Archaeological Department, Kathmandu, Nepal and released to me under strict public license. They date from the late c19th.

The site where I located these artefacts was astounding. Thousands of fragments of same such items were there, stacked in piles of broken fragment pieces and discarded, however following several days of careful excavation, I located the relatively undamaged vessels currently listed here in my shop...

They are not strictly speaking terracotta, as none have been kiln fired or produced upon a potter's wheel, but have been formed by hand from sifted & washed Nepalese clay and then sundried to harden.

These items, were not produced to mean to last, hence the many thousands which exist only in fragments, and due to their method of making coupled with the natural earth clay as was used, these items are extremely porous and will disintegrate and return again to wet-soft clay if they come into contact with fluids for lengthy periods, as none of these Salutation vessels are glazed. They are intended for one time use, by their receiver, and then simply discarded.

A point of note is that the shapes of these vessels do not waver. They were fashioned with great speed, and not meant to be fussy, fashionable or decorative and so their shape variations are limited to just a few which could be quickly produced by hand, upon a finger & thumb to shape them and/or quickly thrown upon a potter's wheel, each having been produced from a small ball of smooth-wet clay.

This pair as offered, are exceptional and exquisite and as aforementioned are seldom found to be intact and as such are historically desirable. One of these, is in fantastic undamaged condition, whilst the other is as shown, however please let's forget that these are items of antiquity which are over 100 years old.

As with the other examples which I am currently listing, they have sat unused in one of my own temples here in England, to be adored and much cherished for their beauty. A beauty that is entirely unique, and with no need for any additional flamboyant decoration. They are simply sublime and are and most probably irreplaceable.

Heights: 1.5 inches Top diameters: 2 inches Base diameters: 1.25 inches Postage weight: 600gms

* Please kindly note that these items shall not be shipped to any mailing address without insurance and signed for delivery. There can be no exceptions to these terms. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Item ID: JJ730