Japanese Elephany Brass Vase | ||
| Asian Antiques2464 of 10167 |  |  |
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Posted 6 years ago
Jetmech
(20 items)
This is a beautiful brass vase. I do not know the era or country, although I have been told the writing on the bottom is old Japanese. Still researching....
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I think this could have had a "maternity/postpartum" use. When a baby was too weak to breastfeed, a new mother would have to hand-express milk. If she failed to do that, she would get a very painful engorgement of milk, plus, the baby needed the milk.
The wide flange top would be adequate to catch the milk. The bulbous bottom held the milk. The narrow center part prevented accidental spills. The baby elephants make nice secure handles, especially if hands were wet. The elephants could be wishful of the milk being adequate for growth of the wee one.
If the elephant trunks are hollow, they would be for dribbling the milk into the baby's mouth so even if the baby was too weak to suck, this would be a way to force feed by gravity.
These days, we have electric pumps and tube feedings but long before that, something like this would do the job nicely- and with style!