Gilt Offering Bowl

Dated to the mid-19th century, this unusual, cloud-form bowl was likely once used as an offering vessel atop a home altar, piled high with fruits, sweets, and other foods. The papier-mâché bowl is cloaked in red and black lacquer and elaborately decorated on the interior with gilt brushwork. The base is painted with a large shou symbol for longevity, flanked on either side by a serene landscape of homes surrounded by pine trees. Richly aged from centuries of use, the bowl's has a beautiful metallic shine when it catches just the right light.

Bowl has minor losses to lacquer finish on the interior base.