Product Description

Antique Sumatran Ceramic Medicine Container 1      SOLD

Material: Ceramic, wood
Style: Batak people, Lake Toba, North Sumatra, Indonesia
Size: Pot: Diameter 13 cm, Stopper: Height 15 cm, Width 7 cm
Order Number: MHSOSMC4

Ceramic medicine container, with carved wooden stopper in the form of a man riding a mythological animal, usually described as similar to a lion, with a human face.

Magician priests keep their magical brews (pupuk) in medicine containers. They often use hollow bamboo tubes but ceramic  vessels were also used, all of Chinese provenance, covered with a greenish celadon glaze or blue under-glaze.

Map of Sumatra.

Early-mid 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).