Box: C.9 & A-1926

Maker(s)

Pottery: Unknown

Entities

• Box
• Cover

Categories

• Stoneware
• Celadon

Description

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.

Notes

History note: Unknown before donor

Legal notes

Given by Dr W.M. Tapp

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1926-07-11) by Tapp, W. M., Dr

Dating

12th Century
Koryo Dynasty
Circa 1150 - 1200

Note

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.