The elephant stands, as if balanced on a ball, trunk raised in a broad arc forming the spout for this unusual pottery serving implement enclosed in an age darkened wooden box. It is 15.5 x 11 x2 0.5 cm (6 x 4-1/2 x 8 inches) and is in excellent condition.
In traditional Japanese art, white elephant imagery primarily symbolizes purity, disciplined spiritual practice, and supreme wisdom. As a motif rooted in Buddhist iconography, it serves as a powerful metaphor for a mind that is steadfast, unyielding, and completely tamed. The white elephant traces its mythological origins to a dream Queen Maya, the mother of the historical Buddha, experienced prior to his birth. The white elephant symbolizes ultimate purity and sacred conception. The motif famously transcended religious artifacts into classical paintings, such as the dynamic, vividly painted screens of the Edo-period artistIto Jakuchu, where the giant white elephant was portrayed as both exotic and divinely auspicious.
