Korean potters were achieving beautiful celadon glazes by the first half of the twelth century. The earliest appearance of the inlay (sanggam) technique has been the subject of controversy but there is general agreement that the technique reached maturity by the second half of the twelth century. In the inlay technique the pattern is incised on the unfired body and the incised areas are then filled with white or iron slip.

The stately and elegant designs on four sides of the bottle are restrained yet rythmic at the same time. Cranes stand at the base of elaborate clusters of bamboo and flowering white blossoms. The swaying bamboo provides the perfect counterpoint to the tautly swelling S- curve of the vase. While the Koryo maebyong originated under the influence of Chinese models, this S-curve is a shape distinctive to Korean vases.

This lovely vase is a masterpiece representing the culmination of the classic maebyong shape combined with perfection of the inlay technique.

For a very similar example in the collection of the Newark Museum from the Howard W. Hayes Collection see Rhee, Byung-Chang Masterpieces of Korean Art--Koryo Ceramics (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1978), pl. 162. For a discussion of vessels of this type see Korai Meipin ten [Exhibition of Mei-pin Vase, Koryo Dynasty, Korea] (Osaka: Museum of Oriental Ceramics, 1985).