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Celadon Gourd-shaped Ewer with Lotus Design in Underglaze Copper

청자 동화연화문 표주박모양 주전자 ( 靑磁 銅畵蓮花文 瓢形 注子 )

Heritage Search Detail
Classification National Treasure
Name of Cultural Properties Celadon Gourd-shaped Ewer with Lotus Design in Underglaze Copper
Quantity 1 Item
Designated Date 1970.12.30
Age Goryeo
Address Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, 60-16, Itaewon-ro 55-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul

The ewer (height: 33.2cm bottom diameter: 11.4cm), which dates back to the mid-Goryeo Period (877-1394), has a gourd-shaped body whose surface is covered with lotus leaves. Its lid looks like a flower bud. Its neck is adorned with lotus leaves as well as the figure of a child embracing a lotus bud. Its handle looks like a slightly bent scrolling vine with the figure of a frog seated at the top. Its spout looks like a rolled lotus leaf. The technique of adorning blue celadon with cinnabar was used in the early 12th Century, but artworks ostentatiously adorned with cinnabar-made patterns were thought to have appeared for the first time only after the 13th Century. This piece, showing the cinnabar-adorned edges and veins of lotus leaves, was unearthed from the tomb of Choe Hang in Ganghwa, Gyeonggi-do. The piece was presumed to date back to the reign of King Gojong (r.1213-1259) of the Goryeo Dynasty. Its splendid cinnabar color makes it a precious material for those studying Goryeo Celadon.