Bowl with Inlaid Chrysanthemum and Peony Design (1100s–1200s): Art, History and Details

Bowl with Inlaid Chrysanthemum and Peony Design (1100s–1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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 bloomed peonies on the inner wall of this tea bowl must have made the moment of drinking tea more enjoyable.

Object facts

• Title: Bowl with Inlaid Chrysanthemum and Peony Design
• Date: 1100s–1200s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: pottery
• Dimensions: Diameter: 19.5 cm (7 11/16 in.); Overall: 8.3 cm (3 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1921.685

A detail from the museum

Kangjin and Buan kilns in Jeolla province were the two major production centers for celadon wares during the Goryeo period (918–1392).

Collection credit

Gift of John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003.
• Lee, Young-hee. "The Study on Techniques and their Interrelations among Craft Arts of the Goryeo Dynasty [고려시대 공예기법 연구 상호관련성을 중심으로]." Misulsa hakbo 22 (2004): 133–170.
• Jang, Nam-won. "The Tea and Celadons during the Goryeo Dynasty : Considering the Celadon Tea Utensils [고려시대茶文化와靑瓷]." Misulsa nondan (2007): 129–162.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.