Scientific Analysis Report: A thermoluminescence analysis report issued by QED Laboratoire in Marseilles, France on 31 May 2019, based on sample number QED1920/BC-1105, sets the firing date of two samples taken between 600 and 900 years ago. A copy of the report accompanies this lot.

Khmer Empire, 12th-13th century. Well potted with concentric spiral whorls decorated with incised lines beginning at the spire and terminating at the outer lip of the shell. An aperture extends from the lip of the shell to the head of the spire.

Provenance: The collection of The Zelnik Istvan Southeast Asian Gold Museum. Institutional art collection in Belgium, acquired from the above. Dr. Istvan Zelnik, President of the Hungarian South and Southeast Asian Research Institute, is a former high-ranking Hungarian diplomat who spent several decades in Southeast Asia, building the largest known private collection of Asian art in Europe.
Condition: Very good condition with wear, firing flaws, small nicks, and encrustations indicating a prolonged period of burial.

Weight: 996.9 g
Dimensions: Length 24.5 cm

Primarily associated with the Hindu god Vishnu, the conch was used in both Hindu and Buddhist rituals during the late 12th and early 13th centuries, when a unique theology, incorporating various beliefs, developed as a result of the last of the great Hindu god-kings, Jayavarman VII, converting to Buddhism. Conches were used both as musical instruments and as receptacles for holy water.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related stoneware conch shell albeit with fewer decorative lines, 18 cm long, dated 1075-1250, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number S1996.168. Compare a related earthenware conch, 13 cm long, in the NMC, inventory number Kha.1890.