I bought this beautiful porcelain bath in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in 1980, thinking it was a baby bath.   However- when touring an antique shop in Hong Kong some years later- I discovered my "bath" was actually a Bidet - imported from China by colonists in Ceylon late 18th to early 19th century.   It normally would be installed on a rosewood stand and have some clean water held in by a plug in the hole on the end. After m'Lady did her duty in a  porelain pot, she could have a wash in her bidet.   The maid would then pull the plug and refresh the water.

I found a photo of a Bidet on a stand in an antique magazine (scroll down below).  The Bidet in Hong Kong was selling for US$10,000!.  I fully intended to build a stand myself, but never got around to it