Page 45 - Symbols_of_Identity_Korean_Ceramics_from the Chang Collection

f conical shape, this bowl is decorated with black and
Owhite inlays under celadon glaze. The inner rim has a
narrow band of stylized grass-like pattern, followed by four
stylized chrysanthemums spaced equidistant from each oth-
er. Two inlaid black Chinese characters in the well indicate
a cyclical date and are surrounded by a double ring and yeo
ui (Ch: rúyì) heads. Four evenly spaced chrysanthemums
decorate the outer wall, with leaves inlaid in black, between
two thin lines that run the circumference of the dish. The
base is glazed and slightly recessed, and the footrim is mostly
glazed. The bowl was fired on three silica chips, the scars of
23. which can be seen on the base. Two firing blisters are located
Bowl near where the well meets the inside wall.
14th century (1329), Goryeo
TL results: fired between 600 & 1,000 years ago Goryeo celadon bowls and dishes are sometimes inlaid with
Stoneware with inlaid designs under celadon glaze a Chinese cyclical date in the well. Traditionally, these wares
H: 5.1 cm, W: 13.5 cm were attributed to the thirteenth century. However, new ar-
chaeological and historical evidence now make a fourteenth
century date more likely. Chinese cyclical dates are composed
1
of one of ten characters designated as “heavenly branches”
combined with one of twelve “earthly stems” in combinations
that add up to a sixty-year cycle. The combination of the Chi-
nese characters gi (Ch: jĭ) and sa (Ch: sì) can indicate 1269,
1329, etc., though 1329 may be the more likely dating.

1 Yong-i Yun, “Introduction: Part II Celadon stonewares of the Koryŏ Dynasty,” in Korean Art from
the Gompertz and Other Collections in the Fitzwilliam Museum: A Complete Catalogue, ed. Regina
Krahl (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 54.

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