A Korean marbled ware wine cup

高麗,十二世紀    絞胎酒杯

The wine cup is of diminutive “U-shaped” form resting on a solid foot with unevenly spaced spur-marks. The cup is assembled of vertical strips of grey-brown and ivory-coloured clays mixed together to give a marbled effect, the design passing through the thickness of the sides, beneath an unmarbled white rim. The whole is applied overall, including the underside of the base, with a clear glaze of celadon-green tint.

Provenance:
Japanese private collection, Tochigi Prefecture

Exhibited:
'Song Ceramics and Works of Art', Priestley & Ferraro, London, 2015, no. 21


The technique used to create this appealing effect is known in Korean as yeonrimun. Marbled-body wares were also made in China at this time, most famously at the Danyangyu kilns, in Henan province. The present cup has some Chinese features, in the fact that it is built from two colours of clay rather than three as is usual for Goryeo examples, and in the way the sides are built up in strips, but the firing on spurs and the application of a celadon-tinted glaze mark it clearly as being of Korean manufacture.


Dimensions: Diameter: 5.7 cm, 2 ¼ inches

Date: Goryeo dynasty (918-1392), 12th century

Stock No. 2082

Price: On Request