Detail View: The AMICA Library: Bowl with Foliate Rim

ASIA.1979.194

1999

Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects

Asian; Far East Asian; Korean

Korean

Bowl with Foliate Rim

Full view

Koryo period, late 11th-early 12th century

1067

1133

Stoneware with incised design under glaze

Ceramics

Korea

H. 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm); D. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm)

Asia Society

New York, New York, USA

1979.194

Asia Society: The Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection

http://www.asiasociety.org

Although Korean ceramics remain relatively unknown in the West, they have long been studied in East Asia. Stonewares with pale gray-green glazes are among the items listed as 'first under heaven' by the 12th-century Chinese author Taiping Laoren, and this type of Korean ceramic is the only non-Chinese item on his list. Korea's famous green-glazed wares also appear in The Illustrated Description of the Chinese Embassy to Korea during the Xuanhe Period (Xuanhe fengsi Gaoli tujing) of about 1124 by the envoy Xu Jing, who described the glaze as sharing 'the radiance of jade and the crystal clarity of water.'

Green-glazed stonewares were first made in Korea in the 9th and 10th centuries. By the 11th and 12th centuries, they were the most widely produced form of Korean ceramic. In the 12th century, a distinctively Korean type of green-glazed stoneware was created, characterized by its inlaid slip decoration; this type remained popular until the 14th century. The main centers for the production of greenwares were Puan in North Cholla Province and Kangjin in South Cholla Province, which are located on the southwest coast of the peninsula.

Korea had strong maritime ties with south China, and the development of green-glazed wares in Korea is often linked to the prominence of this tradition in China, particularly during the 9th through 13th centuries. As a result, Koryo-period (918-1392) greenwares sometimes parallel the shapes and decoration of Chinese wares, particularly such southern wares as Yue and Qingbai. Most of the scholarship on Korean green-glazed ceramics (many of which do not depend on Chinese prototypes) and the value placed on Koryo ceramics in China during the late 11th and early 12th centuries suggest that the relationship between Chinese and Korean ceramics may be more complex and interactive than previously thought.

This charming bowl illustrates the use of natural forms that typifies Koryo-period greenwares. The notches in the rim enliven its shape and give it a flowerlike appearance. The bowl is decorated with incised outlines of peonies filled in with vertical lines that are sometimes called 'cat scratched' because of their similarity to the marks made by feline claws. This type of decoration is also found on Chinese Yue bowls made before the end of the 11th century. Korean bowls with this type of decoration are generally dated to the late 11th or early 12th century, owing to their parallels with Chinese wares of that time. The cracks seen in the glaze of this bowl,known as 'crackle' or 'crazing' and created by the shrinking of the glaze in the kiln, is often found on Korean and Chinese ceramics; the effect, often deliberately achieved, is admired in East Asia.

Asia Society. Handbook of the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection. New York: Asia Society, [1981], p. 86.

Mowry, Robert D. 'Korean Art in Western Collections: The Asia Society--The Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection.' Korean Culture 3 (March 1982), pp. 6-7.

Mowry, Robert D. 'Koryo Celadons.' Orientations (May 1986), p. 31.

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