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Pottery: Unknown
Box and cover with lotus, peony and cloud motifs. Stoneware, thrown, incised and celadon-glazed. This large box is cylindrical in shape and has a flat base. The cover is decorated on top with a peony-spray medallion surrounded by four cloud motifs, its sides are accentuated by a broad groove and feature a band of key-fret around the rim. The box has a corresponding key-fret border around the rim, above four large lotus sprays. All motifs are incised in lines of varying widths. The glaze is finely applied, of greenish jade colour, glossy, and crackled. Both box and cover are completely glazed both inside and outside except for the rims, which bear traces of several fire-clay supports. On the base are seventeen tiny quartzite spur-marks, showing that the piece was fired with the utmost care.
History note: Unknown before donor
Given by Dr W.M. Tapp
Diameter: 17.0 cm
Height: 12.8 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1926-07-11) by Tapp, W. M., Dr
12th Century
Koryo Dynasty
Circa
1150
-
1200
Differences in the colour of the glaze and the technique of incising suggest that the two parts, although from the same kiln, were not made for each other. Large boxes of this kind with incised designs are extremely rare and may have been used as incense or medicine containers, or possibly even as sarira boxes. Such a sarira container came to light during restoration work on the Myogwang-t'ap, a stupa dedicated to the eminent monk Chajong-kuksa of Songgwangsa (see Toki Koza, vol.8, 1973, fig.45). The very fine incised lotus pattern is close to the designs on the roof-tile fragments from the Sadang-ri kilns which can be dated to c.1157 (see Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol.18, 1978, pls.259-262). A number of other celadon vessels share this style of decoration and would seem to have been made around this time, for example a gourd-shaped ewer and basin in a private collection, a kundika in the Nezu Art Museum and a head-rest, a bowl and a gourd-shaped bottle in the Seoul National Museum (see Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 18, 1978, pls.14, 15, 44, 48 and 49, and 60). Nevertheless, it is more likely that this box was made at Yuch'on-ri, Puan; compare excavated specimens illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Seoul, Ewha Womans University Museum, 1983, cat. 76-82.
Glaze
composed of
celadon glaze
Base
Diameter 15.5 cm
Decoration
Throwing
: Stoneware, thrown, incised and celadon-glazed
Glazing (coating)
Accession number: C.9 & A-1926
Primary reference Number: 16177
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Box" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/16177 Accessed: 2024-04-26 05:42:21
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/16177
|title=Box
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-26 05:42:21|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-16177
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<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa14/C_9_20_26_20A_1926_281_29.jpg"
alt="Box"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Box</figcaption>
</figure>
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