Celadon Ewer

Goryeo Period (12th Century)

This refined ewer features a full, hemispherical body surmounted by a straight neck and everted mouth rim, with a curved spout and a handle applied to the opposite side. The cover, fitted with a flat, dish-shaped finial, harmonizes elegantly with the vessel below. The glaze is clear and lustrous, applied over an undecorated surface entirely free of crazing. The base is flat, with traces remaining of the clay-mixed kiln supports on which the piece was fired. The limpid celadon glaze and the vessel's composed, well-ordered form complement one another to create a work of quiet refinement. Produced during the twelfth century, at the height of the bisaek — the celebrated jade-green celadon period — the ewer was fashioned to serve wine and finds its formal prototype in bronze ewers of the period. What distinguishes this work is the masterful translation of the angular, rigid language of metalwork into the soft, flowing contours of ceramic art. The piece is presumed to have been produced at the Sadang-ri kilns in Gangjin.