Ref:  7210

A folk art painted wooden marriage coffer or chest from the villages of Anatolia. The painted design is meaningful rather than just decoration.
The ewer stands for purity and holiness in Islam but in marriage tradition has multiple meanings. In pre-marriage ritual the betrothed wash in water using ceremonial ewers to cleanse them of their past life, the ewer with it's reflective metal surface has the power of the evil eye, it is also a feminine symbol, representing the courtesy and hospitality of the wife to be in her new home, and it is also an anthropomorphic image, a vessel with swollen belly and normally with flowers symbolising fertility and child-birth. Made of mountain cedar pine, clean and neat size.

Anatolia      c.1890

H: 48.5cm (19.1in)
W: 88.5cm (34.8in)
D: 38.5cm (15.2in)

£490