Tea Bowl
Unknown Artist
1600s
Medium
glazed stoneware
Dimensions
{"diameter of mouth":{"width":0.146},"overall":{"height":0.089},"diameter of base":{"width":0.069}}
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Korean Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Cornelia Blakemore Warner Fund
Accession Number
1996.4
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 16th century, 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. This type of tea bowl may have been produced in one of the kilns established and operated by the trading office (Waegwan) in Busan, sout...