Page 215 - 2021 March 16th Japanese and Korean Art, Christie's New York City

254 A CELADON STONEWARE JAR WITH FOUR
HANDLES

GORYEO DYNASTY (12TH CENTURY)
The elegant-shaped body with wide mouth
and evenly rounded shoulders above the
tapering body, applied with four loop handles,
incised on four sides with a large lotus spray
and the neck with auspicious fungus-head-
shaped cloud collar, covered by a rich green
celadon glaze with high sheen and dense
crackle
10 in. (25.4 cm.) high

$100,000-200,000

PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Japan, acquired prior to 1930s
With its satisfying shape, harmonious decoration of fully
blooming lotuses, and exquisitely colored celadon glaze,
this vase is compellingly beautiful. Korea’s best-known
ceramics, the celadon wares, were produced during
the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), an era of supreme
artistic refinement. Plain vessels and ones with molded,
incised, or carved decoration typify eleventh- and early
twelfth-century Korean wares, while ones with designs
inlaid in black and white slips, such as this superb
vase, epitomize those from the mid-twelfth through
the fourteen centuries. Korean celadon glazes tend
to be more transparent and also more bluish green
than those of contemporaneous Chinese celadons. The
finest Korean celadons rival their Chinese counterparts
in terms of both artistic sophistication and technical
achievement. Virtually identical vase with, dated to
the twelfth century, appears in the collections of the
Museum Fine Arts, Boston (19.927).