Cleveland Museum of Art

Square-shaped Bottle with the Scenery of the Han River

Date

1800s

Medium

porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue decoration

Culture

Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)

Department

Korean Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The depicted scenery of this bottle is the Han River, the principal river crossing the center of Seoul. Since the 1700s, Korean artists began to paint the real landscape of Korea instead of imaginary ones of the Chinese tradition. This blue-and-white porcelain bottle is presumably a water dropper for ink. Each facet was separately made and put together before firing in a kiln. Both the landscape motif and faceted bottle were in vogue in the late 19th century, largely produced to meet the growing demand from the elite class. The Han River is the principal river crossing the center of Seoul.

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