Bowl with Fish and Waves in Relief

청자 양각 파도·물고기무늬 사발 [靑磁陽刻波漁文碗]

1100s-1200s

Korea, Goryeo dynasty

(918–1392)

Medium

celadon

Measurements

Overall: 6.3 cm (2 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of John L. Severance 1918.445

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

This tea bowl was part of the gifts donated by John L. Severance (1863–1936). He and his father Louis H. Severance (1838–1913) collected Korean ceramics of the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) from a number of pioneering medical missionaries as a way to foster their activities in Korea, and later donated them to the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Description

As early as the seventh century, the practice of drinking tea and wine became an important part of elite leisure culture in Korea. A wide bowl like this example was especially suitable for drinking powdered tea shaved from a compressed tea cake, the most commonly enjoyed type during the Goryeo period. The image of fish swimming waves expressed in low relief on the inner wall of this tea bowl may have made the moment of drinking tea much enjoyable.