Celadon Ewer with Chrysanthemum and Vine Design in Underglaze Iron

Goryeo Period (12th Century)

This ewer features a rounded body from which the neck rises in a gentle curve to the mouth rim, paired with a straight, elongated spout, a handle, and a flat, dish-shaped cover. A distinctive chrysanthemum scroll (gukdangcho) motif extends continuously across both faces of the body, and a band of chrysanthemum-petal motifs encircles the shoulder. The exterior of the cover is similarly decorated with a chrysanthemum scroll band, rendered in a cut-resist technique. The underglaze iron pigment is pale in tone, imparting a subdued, russet-tinged quality that lends the piece a quality of quiet, unpretentious charm. The glaze is a thin, pale grayish-blue with a gentle luster. This vessel represents an example of iron-painted celadon (cheolhwa cheongja) produced at kilns in the Jinsan-ri area of Haenam during the twelfth century, at a time when the chrysanthemum scroll was being embraced as a fresh decorative vocabulary in ceramic production. The work is distinguished by an archaic, unaffected sensibility that sets it apart from the more polished productions of the mainstream celadon tradition.