(a) Gourd; (b) cork stopper; a - gourd; yellow mottled with brown; b - stopper; cork; can indicate medicine or apothecary shop; storage or transport of liquid; life buoys for male children of boat dwellers, says one informant. Tend to be priced very high on second hand market usually $60-$80 at Hong Kee. Gourd fraught with symbolic meaning- plentitude, drink, prosperity. Taoists used them for drinking, medicine. In time became highly symbolic as devil catching and trapping device.
Donor:
Niloufer Hirschmann Ichaporia and University Appropriation
Collection place:
Hong Kong
Collector:
Niloufer Hirschmann Ichaporia
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Vessels (containers)
Function:
5.1 Religion and Divination: Objects and garb associated with practices reflecting submission, devotion, obedience, and service to supernatural agencies