Bowl with Inlaid Waterfowl, Willow, and Reed Design

청자 상감 유로수금무늬 사발 [靑磁象嵌柳蘆水禽文大碗]

1300s

Korea, Goryeo dynasty

(918–1392)

Medium

celadon with inlaid design

Measurements

Diameter of mouth: 19.7 cm (7 3/4 in.); Overall: 9.1 cm (3 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of John L. Severance 1918.458

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Location

236 Korean

Did You Know?

This bowl with a lightly bent inward rim possibly takes the shape of an alms bowl by Buddhist monks.

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 inlaid image of ducks under willow trees on the inner wall of this tea bowl may have made the moment of drinking tea much enjoyable.