Bowl with White-slip Decorations
Unknown Artist
1500s–1600s
Medium
glazed stoneware
Dimensions
h. 6.6 cm · diameter of mouth 13.1 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Korean Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Edward L. Whittemore Fund
Accession Number
1986.83
About this artwork
This type of wide-mouthed bowl was used every day in Korea, not exclusively for tea drinking. But when it was introduced to Japan around the early 1500s, its imperfect appearance, which evokes the aesthetics of wabi-sabi, caused it to be repurposed as a tea bowl. Korean tea bowls were circulated as a item of foreign luxury among Japanese military elites. Many Korean potters were abducted during the Japanese invasions (1592–98). Some settled there, and ended up leading the development of ceramic ...