- Title
- Vase of Immortality (Tshe-bum)
- Date Made
- 18th century
- Medium
- Silver, repoussé and cast
- Dimensions
- Height: 7 7/8 in. (20 cm); Diameter: 4 7/8 in. (12.38 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.83.2.1a-b
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
A Tibetan Vase of Immortality (Tshe-bum) is a type of ewer used in longevity rituals to dispense sacred water symbolizing the elixir of immortality (amrita). It is principally associated with Amitayus, the Buddha of Eternal Life (see M.84.32.5 and M.77.19.14). Usually peacock feathers, whose eyespots or ocelli symbolize the transcendental insights of the Five Jina Buddhas, are placed in a vase.
The plain bowl-shaped body of the vase has sloped shoulders and a stepped neck. It is supported by a flaring pedestal foot adorned with lotus petals. The vessel has a silver spout issuing out of the mouth of a mythical aquatic creature (makara). The flat-topped lid has a band of lotus petals and an overhanging fringe adorned with the Buddhist Eight Auspicious Symbols set in a field of scrolling foliage. It has a short, vertical open mouth used to insert the peacock feathers.
See also M.2011.157.3a-c. For painted representations of this form of ewer, see M.83.105.18 (top left) and M.86.292 (illustration of the King of Guge, deposed 1630).
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Expanded edition. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990.
