Oil Bottle (1200s): Art, History and Details

Oil Bottle (1200s) 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: 1200s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: painted celadon (Mishima ware)
• Dimensions: Outer diameter: 7.9 cm (3 1/8 in.); Overall: 5 cm (1 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1928.160

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.
• 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.
• Tajima, Mitsuru, Wil Lautenschlager, and Kawanishi Noriko. Celadons of the Koryŏ court = Kōrai ōchō : hishoku seiji no kirameki. Tokyo: London Gallery, 2010.

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.