A LARGE STONE BOAT-SHAPED MORTAR, 18TH-19TH CENTURY
This lot is a museum deaccession and is therefore offered without reserve

India. Of elliptical form with concave interior and rounded sides supported on a flat base and rising to a gently curved rim, carved from a reddish-brown stone.

Provenance: Galerie Hardt (established in 1976), Radevormwald, Germany, before 2020. Acquired by the gallery’s founder Peter Hardt (b. 1946) during his extensive travels in Asia, the first of which occurred during a formative world tour in 1973. Throughout his storied career, Peter Kienzle-Hardt organized countless exhibitions and participated in major international art fairs. He made many important contacts during this time and eventually met the Kienzle siblings, who shared his passion for Asian art and culture. A strong bond and deep friendship developed, ultimately leading to the creation of the Museum für Asiatische Kunst decades later in 2014. While the museum’s permanent exhibition predominantly comprised pieces from the Kienzle Family Collection, Peter Kienzle-Hardt supplemented it with objects from his own collection. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Condition: Good condition with expected wear, traces of use, old minor chips to the rim, light surface scratches, the stone with natural inclusions and a fine, naturally grown, smooth patina.

Weight: 5.7 kg
Dimensions: Length 29.4 cm

Among the many regional variations of mortars used across South Asia, the boat-shaped form occupies a distinctive place. Characterized by its elongated, gently curved basin and tapering ends, this type of mortar is especially suited to grinding materials along its length, rather than crushing them in a central cavity. The user typically employs a long pestle in a to-and-fro motion, allowing for even, sustained pressure across the grinding surface. This makes the boat-shaped mortar particularly effective for creating fine powders — an essential process in both culinary and medicinal traditions.

Historically, mortars of this form have been used not only in domestic kitchens but also in the preparation of Ayurvedic medicines, particularly within Rasashastra, where the transformation of herbs, minerals, and metals into usable compounds demanded both precision and patience. The act of grinding was central to this alchemical practice: a slow, deliberate process that ensured the purification, trituration, and proper blending of substances such as mercury, sulfur, mica, and various herbal adjuncts. Boat-shaped mortars were ideal in this context, offering a surface that facilitated extended grinding without spillage, and allowed the practitioner to gauge the fineness of the powder by texture and resistance.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related boat-shaped stone mortar, dated 18^th-19^th century, formerly in the collection of Sir Henry Wellcome and now in the Science Museum, London, object number A665009. Compare a related Indian black marble mortar, dated to the 19^th century, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number 01786:1/(IS).