Cup (1100s): Art, History and Details

Cup (1100s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This celadon wine cup is inlaid with a chrysanthemum pattern that reflects Koreans’ enjoyment of both the poem "Drinking Wine" and the blessings of longevity associated with the Double Nine Festival. The flower design on the saucer is less delicate than the cup, as the cup and saucer were originally from different sets; they were later paired together after each lost its mate.

Object facts

• Title: Cup
• Date: 1100s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Celadon ware with inlaid white and black slip decoration
• Dimensions: Diameter: 8.3 cm (3 1/4 in.); Overall: 7.1 cm (2 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1928.171.a

A detail from the museum

Elites of the Goryeo period are known for their love of drinking tea and wine. This type of delicate-looking cup stand not only made their drinking experience more enjoyable, but also showed their refined taste.

Collection credit

Gift of John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Recent Additions to the Collection of Korean Pottery." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 15, no. 9 (November 1928): 182-184
• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Sŏn Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011.
• Lee, Yun-jin. “A Study on Ceramic Jantak(盞托) of Goryeo Period [고려시대 청자잔탁 연구].” Misulsahak yeongu (2012): 35-69.

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.