A pale green pitcher with blue green highlights decorated with grapevines and clusters of grapes
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

From a circular base, the pitcher expands in a bulb shape, to a narrow neck, which then expands again into a smaller bulb shape with a small opening at the top. An upward curving handle on one side is sculpted like braided rope, while on the opposite side, a tall, slender spout rises from the middle section. Glazed in a pale gray-green with blue-green accents, the sides are covered in an incised design of grape clusters, leaves and curling vines. The base is bordered with a lotus leaf pattern, while a geometric pattern in a thin band rings the opening at the top.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1991.552
Title
Gourd-Shaped Ewer with Fruiting Grapevine
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
12th century
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, Korea
Period
Koryŏ dynasty, 918-1392
Culture
Korean
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/201382

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2600, East Asian Art, East Asian Painting and Decorative Arts
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Stoneware with carved and incised decoration under celadon glaze
Technique
Celadon
Dimensions
H. 29.9 x Diam. 15 cm (11 3/4 x 5 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Gregory (1922-1988) and Maria C. Henderson (1923-2007), Medford, MA (by 1969-1988), inherited; by Maria C. Henderson, Medford, MA (1988-1991), partial gift and partial purchase; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1991.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Partial gift of Maria C. Henderson and partial purchase through the Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art
Accession Year
1991
Object Number
1991.552
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Gregory Henderson, Korean Ceramics: An Art's Variety, exh. cat., Ohio State University, Divisions of Art Gallery (Columbus, Ohio, 1969), p. 39, no. 64
  • Christian Boehm, Korean Celadon and Buncheong Ware in the Harvard Art Museums, Arts of Asia (Hong Kong, Autumn 2023), pp. 106-, pp. 108, 110-111, fig. 11

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/03/2015 - 12/01/2016; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/23/2022 - 12/05/2022; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/04/2023 - 06/01/2025; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/04/2023 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu