Oil Bottle (1100s): Art, History and Details

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

The work and its context

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

Celadons, spoons, seals, and bronze mirrors were the most common burial objects in tombs during the Goryeo period (918-1392). Once used to contain oil treatment for hair, this little celadon bottle was one of the standard goods that furnished elites' tombs.

Object facts

• Title: Oil Bottle
• Date: 1100s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: pottery
• Dimensions: Diameter: 7.9 cm (3 1/8 in.); Overall: 5.4 cm (2 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1921.639

A detail from the museum

This bottle was used to contain oil treatment for hair.

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.
• Tajima, Mitsuru, Wil Lautenschlager, and Kawanishi Noriko. Celadons of the Koryŏ court = Kōrai ōchō : hishoku seiji no kirameki. Tokyo: London Gallery, 2010.
• Goryeo: The Glory of Korea [대고려, 그 찬란한 도전]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 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.