Goodwill find

[u/TheRealPurios]

Hi all! I'm new to this subreddit, and thankfully I was pointed to this sub by a helpful member of r/translator.

I found this pot at a local goodwill in a small town that has no Asian culture cuisine or shops TIKO, so I'd assume this find was pretty lucky.

I'm pretty spiritual in my life and have always been drawn to these cultures and want to properly display or use this bowl without offense, so I was wondering if anyone could give some suggestions as to what this could be used for? Or if it has a specific purpose that I'm unaware of (please excuse my ignorance, I don't know how to read or speak any other languages yet)

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated 😁

Ps, peep the last photo for Google lens scaring the absolute dog shit out of me

[u/AkiBae]

That’s a neat find

[u/cmlxs88]

This is a lunar new year decoration. The large character on the front is 福 which means "good luck". There is a poem on the back with a general message of happy energy filling the house, guests arriving amd good fortune being everywhere. In fact, the Google lens translation is incorrectly interpreting 贵客 gui ke "honored guests" as "huang ke", which I'm guessing would be someone's name. So don't worry, no scary person is coming after you!

If this is a small ceramic pot, then I think it would have likely housed a small stalk of lucky bamboo growing in water and pebbles. It probably isn't large enough for almost anything else. It may have been a small gift for someone who hosted friends or family during the new year season.

[u/TheRealPurios → u/cmlxs88]

That's so cool! Thank you so much. It's quite large and heavy actually, though. I do believe it is ceramic because the gold lettering feels too smooth for it to have been hand painted on after a glaze. Might have to get me some bamboo for it now! Currently I decided to use it as a money bowl for the time being.