An Iron-Coated Inlaid and Celadon-Glazed Maebyong

KORYO DYNASTY (12TH CENTURY)

Details

An Iron-Coated Inlaid and Celadon-Glazed Maebyong
Koryo Dynasty (12th Century)
Evenly proportioned, with small cup-form mouth, swelling shoulders and wide, flat foot ring enclosing a very shallow recessed base; the vessel coated with iron-slip after bisque firing and designed with three willow medallions alternating with three willow branches carved out of the iron slip and inlaid with white clay, and covered overall save the foot rim by a thin celadon glaze; each of the willow medallions slightly different in the number of leaves and branches and the shape of the arching branches and the three interspersed willow branches also variant and ending in a freely-carved, energetic cursive line or loop
11 3/4in. (29.9cm.) high

Provenance

Purchased from Mathias Komor, 1959.11.24

Exhibited

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1965 (temporary loan)

Lot Essay

For an inlaid and iron-coated celadon bottle see Itoh Ikutaro, ed., Yuen no iro shitsuboku no katachi Rhee Byung-chang korekushon kankoku toji no bi/Color of Elegance, Form of Simplicity: The Beauty of Korean Ceramics from the Byung-chang Rhee Collection, exh. cat. (Osaka: Museum of Oriental Ceramics, 1999), pl. 41; for maebyong of the same technique see Rhee, Byung-chang, Korai to/Koryo Ceramics in Kankoku bijutsu shusen/Masterpieces of Korean Art (Tokyo: Privately published, 1978), pls. 304-6, 311-14; Itoh Ikutaro and Yutaka Mino, eds., The Radiance of Jade and the Clarity of Water: Korean Ceramics from the Ataka Collection, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute, 1991), pls. 27, 29; Koyama Fujio, ed., Chosen jodai, korai hen (Ancient Korea, Koryo), vol. 13 of Sekai toji zenshu/Collection of World's Ceramics (Tokyo: Zauho and Kawade Shobo, 1961), pl. 19, nos. 132-33, figs. 203-7; Korai seiji e no izanai/An Introduction to Koryo Celadon, exh. cat. (Osaka: Museum of Oriental Ceramics, 1992), pls. 134-38; Korai bijutsukan kaikan kinen zuroku/Illustrated catalogue of the inaugural exhibition, Koryo Museum of Art, exh. cat. (Kyoto: Koryo Museum of Art, 1988), no. 9; Choi Sunu, Chunja (Celadon), vol. 4 of Hanguk eui mi (Korea's beauty) (Seoul: Joong Ang Ilbo Sa, 1981), pls. 176-78.

Two other iron-coated and inlaid maebyong sold in these Rooms, 24 April, 1997, lot 12 and 31 October, 1996, lot 19.

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