Cleveland Museum of Art

Bowl with Flowering Vines Design in Relief

Date

1100s-1200s

Medium

celadon ware

Culture

Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)

Department

Korean Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

As early as the seventh century, the practice of drinking tea and wine became an important part of elite leisure culture in Korea. A wide bowl like this example was especially suitable for drinking powdered tea shaved from a compressed tea cake, the most commonly enjoyed type during the Goryeo period. The image of flowering vines in relief on the inner wall of this tea bowl must have made the moment of drinking tea more enjoyable. This type of celadon bowl was modeled after Ru ware of northern China. Xu Jing (1091-1153), the Chinese official who visited Korea in 1123, called the Korean celadon ware as the “new kiln ware of Ru-zhou.”

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