Gourd-shaped Wine Pot (1200s): Art, History and Details

Gourd-shaped Wine Pot (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 culture in Korea. Elites of the Goryeo period commissioned a variety of types of utensils and vessels including this elegant wine pitcher, not only to make their drinking experience more exciting, but also to show their appreciation of nature.

Object facts

• Title: Gourd-shaped Wine Pot
• Date: 1200s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: pottery
• Dimensions: height with lid: 26.7 cm (10 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1921.632

A detail from the museum

This gourd-shaped bottle once used to serve wine.

Collection credit

Gift of John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• The well-preserved example for gourd-shaped wine pot can be found in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution.
• Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003.
• 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.