Crackle-glazed Bowl (1100s): Art, History and Details

Crackle-glazed Bowl (1100s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

During the Goryeo period (918–1392), about 260 kilns operated in mainly Jeolla and Chungcheong provinces, meeting a high consumer demand. Celadon wares used for everyday such as this bowl were among the most common burial objects in tombs of the elites. Furnishing tombs with an elaborate assemblage of objects was believed to honor and comfort the newly dead. Generally, Goryeo tombs were left untouched until the late 1800s. During the colonial period (1910–45), however, Japanese archaeologists competitively excavated the tombs located in Kaeseong, the former capital of the Goryeo period, and these wares soon became available for Japanese and Western collectors.

Object facts

• Title: Crackle-glazed Bowl
• Date: 1100s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: pottery
• Dimensions: Diameter of base: 5.5 cm (2 3/16 in.); Overall: 4.2 cm (1 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1921.626

A detail from the museum

The crackle pattern that appears all over this bowl was caused by a thermal expansion mismatch between the body and the glaze.

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.
• Goryeo: The Glory of Korea [대고려, 그 찬란한 도전]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2018.
• Sparkles of Jade: Goryeo Celadon [高麗青磁 : ヒスイのきらめき]. Ōsaka: Ōsaka: Shiritsu Tōyō Tōji Bijutsukan, 2018.

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.