Featured Help to ID an Asian (?) Metal Footed Dragon (?) Bowl

Hi all,

I am new to the forum, and I have just been browsing the different threads. This place is awesome! I run into lots of antiques as a reseller, but normally I’m able to discern where, when, value, type questions on my own. This one, however, has me perplexed, and I have to put my stubbornness aside and ask for help. It looks like there is a wealth of knowledge here so I am hoping someone can help me ID this doohiggy... I bought it at a thrift shop in Hawaii, but I’m currently in Utah. I just thought it looked neat, and old and couldn’t pass up a dollar nick nack that might be worth something (or nothing). After all, I’ve blown hundreds of dollars in Vegas on dumber gambles.

It’s a metal type construction, dark brownish-black in color except for some reddish coloring that is much less apparent in real life. Green oxidation on the inside and what looks like rust. Three feet, some sort of animal/dragon handles, and some geometric markings near the rim with some other markings below.

If anyone has any info at all, I’d be super grateful!

Edit: Also, it’s only about 3” tall and approx 4” From head to tail.

 

Looks like a "dragon tortoise".

 

Welcome to the Forum, JoshA!

 

Thank you! I’m addicted already. Lol

 

Is the head a working spout with a hole?

 

No, there is no working spout in the head. Unless it was really small and has totally rusted shut, because it all seems solid but there is residue that looks like rust in the mouth and on the inside of the bowl where a spout could have been at one time.

 

I don’t want to influence anyone’s ideas if I’m wrong and I’m going down an endless rabbit hole of research, but some of the things that have crossed my mind so far:

1. The teeth are super pronounced in the mouth, more than I’ve seen on a lot of dragon figures I’ve looked at. Except the Indonesian or Balinese dragon masks that I looked at.
2. The markings below the geometric rim pattern appear to be some sort of script. I thought Arabic at first, but it also looks mildly like some of the Balinese writing I’ve seen, maybe others I haven’t considered?
3. I was thinking it was some sort of cast iron because of the line that appears to bisect the bowl on both sides and also each foot. But I don’t know if red rust or green oxidation would occur on cast iron or if it’s some other kind of metal.
4. Lastly, if it were cast iron, maybe that could help me figure out how old it could possibly be. I can’t find when cast iron was first appearing in Asia. My insistence on it being Asian is because of my assumption that it’s a dragon, so I could be way off...

Thanks again for any help!

 

Probably way off, but with that tail, it makes me think of a chimera

 

I never considered that. Actually, I’ve never even heard of Chimera til just then, but those tails DO look super similar. Thanks for the insight! I will dig into that deeper.

 

Welcome to the forum, JoshA.
A very nice buy for a dollar, I love it.

You got the country right, Indonesia. The script is the old Javanese script called Kawi. Kawi is also used on Bali, since Bali has a Javanese culture superimposed on the native Balinese culture.
But forget about Bali, this is classic East Javanese.
It is a lotus shaped kundika, or ritual water vessel, with a Naga or dragon spout and handle. It is missing a lid, which would have had a figure of the Buddha on top.
The lotus and the Naga are among the most powerful symbols in Hinduism and Buddhism, and Asian culture in general.
Your kundika is made in the style of antique Javanese Buddhist vessels, but it doesn't look antique to me. It looks too heavy, the seams don't look good, and the surface has blobs etc, which the antique ones don't have. And it looks a bit too antique, if you get what I mean.
It was probably made in East Java, the centre of the medieval Majapahit empire. Manufacture of Hindu-Buddhist items continued even after the introduction of Islam, and there are 19th century Majapahit style bronzes. Those are antique, but not of the actual period.
It is still a local craft, now mainly made for tourists.
The red stuff in the spout is not rust but local red clay. They bury the new ones to make them look old, after they have aged them with acid.
Some Majapahit Nagas were in bad need of an orthodontist, like this gorgeous terracotta example:

https://www.esotericstuff.com/go/te...-naga-dragon-head-eastern-java-near-trawulan/

Here is an example of an East Javanese lotus kundika with Buddha lid:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/242413717/antique-javanese-bronze-buddha-dragon?ref=related-1

Josh, it doesn't look antique to me, but I don't have it here to see, feel and smell.
Just to be sure, you could have it looked at by someone who knows Majapahit bronzes. There are museums in the US which have Majapahit and other antique Javanese bronzes in their collection, that is where you need to ask. Don't ask an antique dealer or auctioneer, they wouldn't know Majapahit or the current replicas. It is too niche for them.

Old or new, I love it, I love most Majapahit related things. And this one has charm.
I am a descendant of the Majapahit kings and formidable queens. I have some Majapahit bronze replicas myself. I am also fortunate to have inherited some Majapahit terracottas, and have a small collection of wonderful Majapahit keris (ceremonial daggers).

 

Welcome, Josh. Personally, I love your little "dragon tortoise," even though I had never heard of such a thing before. AJ's explanation is wonderful, as usual. (Don't tell anyone, but her actual address is a suite at the Rijkmuseum, where she handles particularly arcane questions. I plan to go there for a while when I die.)

LOL! I Wish!

 

And I'll make sure you will be made to feel welcome:

 

It is not a dragon tortoise, by the way. Those are found in China and mainland southeast Asia, not in Indonesia.
This is a miniature dragon tortoise from Cambodia, but probably originally Chinese:

It is standing on a pile of coins, it guards riches.

 

WOW, AJ. Another wonderful learning exercise ... if I can just remember it all.
Patd

 

Thank you Patd.

I will be testing you later on. I won't tell you when....

 

OH my! That seriously was the most incredible answer I could have imagined! Thank you so much, Any Jewelry! The thing I love about being a “reseller” (or whatever one would call it), is that I have to research things and I always learn something new. I have this rule that if I’m out treasure hunting and I see something that I’ve never seen before, I have to look it up. In this case, I bought it because it was just too cool looking. I have run into items before that were intentionally antiqued and I was thinking that this might be one of them. The only reason I thought that though was because of the fact that I didn’t know when casting metal could have become commonly used in Asia, based on my assumption that it was Asian. But for all I know, they could have been the first to do it, and it could have been much earlier than I assume. I just couldn’t decide if it was or wasn’t antique, and all the Googling in the world wasn’t helping me. And I’m REALLY good at Google - I finished two college degrees with my Googling prowess! Lol After being taken to school just now, I’m okay with it being antique or not. It’s still going to go on display in my little curio with my other favorite finds. The closest I’ve been to Indonesia is Thailand, but I’ve always wanted to go. My wife is from the Philippines, so when we go there one day maybe I can convince her that we need to take a flight to Indonesia! Thanks everyone for the great responses and comments!

 

You devil.....

 

Once again Queen AJ......you Rock !!!

 

Pleasure, Josh.

Little is known as yet of when metal casting was introduced in Indonesia, but they were a bronze producing hub during the period of the bronze age Dong Son culture, ca 1000 BC-100 AD.
During the Dong Son period my ancestral island of Madura, just north of Java, was the site of bronze drum production on a fairly big scale. Similar to this drum, although this one is from Vietnam: