Description
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, southern Gyeongsang province, as an export item for Japanese tea bowl collectors.
Provenance
(James J. Freeman, Kyōto, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1996); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1996–)
Accession Number
1996.4
Medium
glazed stoneware
Dimensions
Diameter of mouth: 14.6 cm (5 3/4 in.); Overall: 8.9 cm (3 1/2 in.)
Classification
Ceramic
Credit Line
Cornelia Blakemore Warner Fund