A GROUP OF FOUR GILT-SILVER REPOUSSÉ-MOUNTED AND TURQUOISE-EMBELLISHED BURLWOOD 'DIRECTIONAL ANIMALS' OFFERING BOWLS Tibet, 19th century or later (4)PROPERTY OF ANOTHER OWNERA GROUP OF FOUR GILT-SILVER REPOUSSÉ-MOUNTED AND TURQUOISE-EMBELLISHED BURLWOOD 'DIRECTIONAL ANIMALS' OFFERING BOWLSTibet, 19th century or laterEach burlwood bowl supported on a short stem foot and rising to an everted rim, the interior lined with sheet silver extending over the rim, the well applied with a turquoise bead set in a gilt-copper mount, the lower body and foot mounted with silver sheet worked in repoussé and chased details, the principal features picked out in gilt, including one bowl with the 'Azure Dragon of the East' at the base and a band of flowering and fruiting plants at the lower body, one with the 'Vermillion Bird of the South' at the base and a band of further birds within a diaper motif at the lower body, one with the 'White Tiger of the West' at the base and a band of figures in a landscape at the lower body, and one with the 'Black Tortoise of the North' at the base and a band of rabbits against a diaper ground at the lower body. 6in (15.2cm) diam. of largest (4).Provenance:Asian Private Collection, until 1988, by reputeAcquired from the above, 1988Water bowls are used in Tibetan Buddhist rituals to place offerings of water on the altar. Typically appearing in a group of seven, the bowls are organized in a row and filled with water each morning as offerings to the Buddha and bodhisattvas. This devotional practice is known as the Seven Water Offerings (mchod yon, or yon chab 'bul ba). The bowls can be made entirely of metal, or with a wood core and applied silver mounts, as seen in the present examples. The metal can be worked in a variety of techniques including repoussé, chasing, cast or pierced openwork, gilding, hardstone inlay, or a combination thereof, and the motifs tend to favor the 'Eight Buddhist Emblems', auspicious animals, lotus, and foliate scroll. For an overview of vessels used in Tibetan Buddhist offerings, see Michael Henss, Buddhist Ritual Art of Tibet: A Handbook on Ceremonial Objects and Ritual Furnishings in the Tibetan Temple, Stuttgart, 2020, p. 126. For contemporaneous water bowls executed with a silver body embellished with gilt-copper bands, see Marylin M. Rhie and Robert A. F. Thurman, A Shrine for Tibet, The Alice Kadell Collection, New York, 2009, p. 244, no. VI-10.