Korean maebyong with cranes and clouds

An image of Maebyong. Vase with cranes and clouds. Unknown pottery, Korea, North Cholla province. Yuch'on-ri, Puan. This maebyong-shaped vase has a wide almost flat shoulder and a full body that gradually tapers towards the spreading foot. The foot-rim is broad and shallow. The everted mouth is restored and does not correspond to the original form, which would have been of angled cup shape. A band of key-fret is inlaid in black slip around the base. Cranes and cloud motifs are sparsely arranged over the whole vessel with a lot of breathing space between; they are inlaid in black and white slip and emphasised with touches of underglaze copper-red, adding accents of brighter colour. The glaze is thinly but unevenly applied; it is glossy and has a pale blue-green tone. The whole surface is covered with a fine crackle. The foot shows traces of fire-clay spurs. Stoneware, thrown, inlaid in black and white slip, with details painted in copper-red, and celadon-glazed. Height, whole, 30.6 cm, diameter, rim, 4.8 cm, diameter, foot, 10.0 cm, circa 1150-1200. Koryo Dynasty. Notes: Vessels such as this one were used for wine.

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Maebyong. Vase with cranes and clouds. Unknown pottery, Korea, North Cholla province. Yuch'on-ri, Puan. This maebyong-shaped vase has a wide almost flat shoulder and a full body that gradually tapers towards the spreading foot. The foot-rim is broad and shallow. The everted mouth is restored and does not correspond to the original form, which would have been of angled cup shape. A band of key-fret is inlaid in black slip around the base. Cranes and cloud motifs are sparsely arranged over the whole vessel with a lot of breathing space between; they are inlaid in black and white slip and emphasised with touches of underglaze copper-red, adding accents of brighter colour. The glaze is thinly but unevenly applied; it is glossy and has a pale blue-green tone. The whole surface is covered with a fine crackle. The foot shows traces of fire-clay spurs. Stoneware, thrown, inlaid in black and white slip, with details painted in copper-red, and celadon-glazed. Height, whole, 30.6 cm, diameter, rim, 4.8 cm, diameter, foot, 10.0 cm, circa 1150-1200. Koryo Dynasty. Notes: Vessels such as this one were used for wine.

Image data

Accession Number: C.83-1984
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/20.0
Focal length: 120
Camera: GFX 50S
Photographer name: Amy Jugg
Image height: 1025 pixels
Image width: 812 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
Filesize: 355.20kB
Exposure time: 1/60
ISO Speed: 200
Fnumber: 20/1
Captured: 2018:08:02 02:42:58

Key words

12th Century birds celadon celadon glazed clouds crane Fitz_AA glazed green inlaid inlay Korean Koryo Dynasty Maebyeong opaque pale green pottery slip slip-coated slipware stoneware thrown vase vessel wine vessel

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025)
            "Korean maebyong with cranes and clouds"
            Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-205802 Accessed: 2025-12-05 16:14:00

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