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Celadon cups and stands appeared when plain celadon began to be produced in the early Goryeo period, and continued to be made even after the thirteenth century. Compared with those produced in the early Goryeo period, those produced in the late |
Goryeo period are taller, like this piece. Each of the ten petals of the cup and stand is decorated with an inlaid chrysanthemum design. The foot of the stand is somewhat taller than those produced in earlier years. The foot is divided into eight sections, each of which is decorated with an incised floral design. Overall, this piece is of a very ornamental shape, but it looks simple as all elements are in conformity.
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At the center of the interior is a small medallion that serves as a pivot. Around this pivot are five floral petals that seem to be swirling. Following the border lines of the petals, the rim is indented at five spots to create a floral shape. |
Inside each of the floral petals is an incised peony design. The entire surface is covered with transparent grayish blue celadon glaze and has good luster with no crazing. The foot is proportionately very small. The glaze on the base of the foot was wiped away before it was placed on three fireproof clay spacers. Several celadon floral-rimmed bowls like this were produced, but there are metal precedents of this type.
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This nearly cylindrical bowl slightly tapers toward the rim. Around the exterior rim area is a band of white inlaid thunder patterns. The body is decorated with four peony designs placed at equal intervals. The leaves and stems of the peonies |
are inlaid in black, in contrast to the flower inlaid in white. At the center of the cover is a knob in the shape of a lotus bud, around which are three chrysanthemums, encircled at the edge by an inlaid thunder pattern in white. The edge of the interior is lined with a fitting to prevent the lid from sliding. The exterior and interior of the lid are covered with celadon glaze, and the lid was fired on the three silica spacers. Fourteen pieces of the cup with the same shape were discovered, suggesting that they were all produced as a set.
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This is a tall, cylindrical cup with a lid. Just below the rim on the exterior is an inlaid thunder pattern design in white, and on the body is scroll designs in reverse inlay. Around the base of the cup is a band of a double lotus design. There are three inlaid chrysanthemum designs in circles placed with equal intervals between the scroll designs. The lid is also decorated with three circles around the knob, and inside of each circle is an inlaid chrysanthemum design. |
The edge of the cover is decorated with a thunder pattern design, and the remaining space is filled with scroll design. The shapes and decoration of the lid and cup together are well composed.
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This zoomorphic incense burner has two parts; a lid and a body. On top of the lid sits a mythical Chinese unicorn called kirin, one of the four mythical animals. The cylindrical body of this incense burner has three legs, and the top of the body has a nearly flat and wide mouth. This type of zoomorphic incense burner was common in the Goryeo period, along with unicorn, lion and mandarin duck-shaped incense burners also remain. The bluish, transparent jade-green celadon glaze |
was evenly applied to entire surface. The base was glazed, and the piece was fired on four silica spacers. The lid was also glazed entirely, and there are traces of five small silica spacers for firing. The body of the burner is decorated with cloud designs all over. The side of the base of the lid is decorated with incised thunder designs. On the interior surface of the lid are traces showing that the unicorn and the base of the lid were produced separately and then joined later. During the Goryeo period, a number of unicorn-shaped incense burners like this piece were produced. The most representative of those include one each in the collections of the Gansong Museum of Art and the National Museum of Korea. The Osaka Municipal Museum of Oriental Ceramics also has one. Unicorn-shaped celadon incense burners from twelfth century Goryeo are assumed to have been produced in accordance with some very specific design guidelines.
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