The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 4, 2023

Bottle with Incised and Sgraffito Fish Design

분청사기 조화 물고기무늬 병 (粉靑沙器彫花蓮魚文甁)

1400s–1500s

Korea, Joseon dynasty

(1392-1910)

Stoneware with incised design (Buncheong ware)

Outer diameter: 17 cm (6 11/16 in.); Overall: 30.6 cm (12 1/16 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1962.153

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The fish depicted here seems to be a small yellow croaker, abundant off the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula.

Description

This whimsical bottle is classified as Buncheong 분청 (literally, powdered green). Flourishing during the 1400s–1500s, Buncheong indicates pottery with iron-rich clay decorated with white slip. After firing, the color of the clay body usually became greenish-gray due to its high iron content. Korean artists tried to emulate the white porcelain wares of the Chinese Ming period, although the result was not the same. On the surface coated with white slip, the image of a smiling fish is carved in bold lines, a technique distinctive to Jeolla province, a southwest region of the Korean peninsula.

Provenance
?–1962
(N. V. Hammer, Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1962–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 272 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 272 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 364 archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jenifer Neils. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 138, no. 141
Park, Kyung-ja and Park Hyeong-soon. “Evolution of the Buncheong Wares in the Early Joseon Period as the White Porcelain Takes over the Taxation Supply [조선 전기 공납용 백자제작에 따른 분청사기 양식변화].” Misul sahak (2010): 291-321. www.dbpia.co.kr
Lee, So-young, and Seung-chang Jeon. Korean Buncheong Ceramics from the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011.
Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014.
Buncheong Ware [분청사기]. Seoul: Ehwa Woman’s Universtiry Museum, 2019.
McCormick, Sooa Im. "The Past and Present of the Korean Collection in the Cleveland Museum of Art." In The Korean Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Ch'a, Mi-rae, Kwi-suk An, Cleveland Museum of Art, 국외소재문화재재단, and An Min-hŭi, ed., 22-37. First edition, English ed. Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Series, 16. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 33, fig. 32
Exhibition history

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 120). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 22-October 26, 2003).

Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).

Korean Ceramics. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (April 18-June 2, 1968); Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto M5S 2C6, Canada (July 15-August 30, 1968); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (October 1-November 15, 1968).

Korean Gallery 236 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 29-July 16, 2018).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.153