Tea bowl

Tea-bowl, flaring, conical. Open cup-shaped stand. Four kiln marks on bowl.
Clay: hard grayish.
Glaze: bowl – lustrous blackish-green, pitted; stand – very dark green, more thickly pitted and crackled.
Spurs: on bowl, traces of four sandy clay spurs on the glazed footrim.

Historical period(s)
Goryeo period, first half of 12th century
Medium
Stoneware with black slip under celadon glaze
Style
Black Goryeo ware
Dimensions
H x Diam (overall): 8.7 x 15.9 cm (3 7/16 x 6 1/4 in)
Geography
Korea, Jeolla-do province, Gangjin or Buan county, Gangjin or Buan kilns
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1911.366.1
On View Location
Freer Gallery 14: Rediscovering Korea's Past
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea bowl

Keywords
black slip, Goryeo period (918 - 1392), green glaze, Korea, Koryo (Goryeo) black ware, stoneware, tea
Provenance

To 1911Y. Fujita and Company, Kyoto, to 1911 [1]From 1911 to 1919Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Y. Fujita and Company in 1911 [2]From 1920Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]Notes:[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 2153, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.[2] See note 1.[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Y. Fujita and Company (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Description

Tea-bowl, flaring, conical. Open cup-shaped stand. Four kiln marks on bowl.
Clay: hard grayish.
Glaze: bowl - lustrous blackish-green, pitted; stand - very dark green, more thickly pitted and crackled.
Spurs: on bowl, traces of four sandy clay spurs on the glazed footrim.

Label

Tea drinking was part of the daily routine in the Goryeo court.  Shallow ceramic bowls placed on matching stands were used to serve the tea, which was prepared in the bowl by whisking powdered green leaves with hot water.  This bowl's luminous dark color, intended to complement the color of the tea, is produced by a coating of iron-rich slip (liquid clay) beneath a green glaze.

Published References

Oriental Ceramics (Toyo Toji Taikan): The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. pls. 247-248.Edward B. Adams. Korea's Pottery Heritage. 2 vols., Seoul, 1986-1990. cat. 125.Robert L. Hobson, Edward S. Morse, Rose Sickler Williams. Chinese, Corean, and Japanese Potteries: Descriptive Catalogue of the Loan Exhibition. Exh. cat. New York, March 2-21, 1914. cat. 121.Korean Art in the Freer and Sackler Galleries. Washington, D.C. no. 6.7, p. 82.

Collection Area(s)
Korean Art
Web Resources
Korean Ceramics
Google Cultural Institute
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