Antique Beggars Bowl Kashmir India Handpainted Lacquered Papier-mâché Brass 1904

Antique Kashkul Beggars Bowl Kashmir India Handpainted Lacquered Papier-mâché Brass Year 1904 Measures: 7 inches long, 4 inches wide, 5 inches tall Hand painted and laquered papier-mache in a gorgeous green and gold floral pattern with a brass inlay interior. In antique condition with slight cracks in the paint. The kashkul, or beggar’s bowl, is perhaps the most emblematic accoutrement of the wandering dervish. Dervishes used them primarily to collect and store alms (their main source of sustenance) and occasionally as drinking vessels. In later centuries, many were marketed as decorative objects since a devoted dervish would be unlikely to carry an elaborately carved kashkul as it would contradict his belief in the renunciation of worldly goods in favor of unconditional devotion to the Divine. The kashkul has a number of metaphorical associations. For example, it represents the cleansing of a soul of all extraneous earthly desires in preparation for the acceptance of Divine love and a dervish's life of poverty.