Bottle: C.353-1934

Maker(s)

Potter: Unknown

Entities

• Bottle

Categories

• Porcelain

Description

Octagonal bottle with crane and bamboo. Porcelain, thrown, shaped, painted in cobalt-blue and glazed. The tall neck has a projecting rim and spreads towards the pear-shaped body. The bottle is painted in underglaze blue with a large flying crane and with a clump of bamboo on the reverse. The glaze is greyish-white and the body heavy and thick. The foot is outlined with a single blue line and the footring shows traces of fine sand from the support.

Notes

History note: Unknown before Frank Brangwyn, RA

Legal notes

Bought with the Glaisher Fund

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1934) by Brangwyn Collection

Dating

19th Century
Choson Dynasty (1392 - 1910)
Circa 1850 - 1900

Note

Such faceted bottles were first made in the eighteenth century (see Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol.19, 1980, pls.166-170) and were widely used as wine bottles; this tradition continued into the nineteenth century and the colours of the cobalt and the greyish-white glaze, the way the crane is painted, as well as the deeply-cut footring all identify this bottle as a product of the second half of the nineteenth century. For sherds of blue-and-white porcelain of the nineteenth century found at Punwon-ri see ibid. pl.239.