Cleveland Museum of Art

Bowl with Fish and Waves in Relief

Date

1100s-1200s

Medium

celadon

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 fish swimming waves expressed in low relief on the inner wall of this tea bowl may have made the moment of drinking tea much enjoyable. This tea bowl was part of the gifts donated by John L. Severance (1863–1936). He and his father Louis H. Severance (1838–1913) collected Korean ceramics of the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) from a number of pioneering medical missionaries as a way to foster their activities in Korea, and later donated them to the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.