Bowl with White-slip Decorations

1600s

Bowl with White-slip Decorations, 1600s. Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). Glazed ceramic; overall: 7.5 cm (2 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mary Pendell and Esther Berger in memory of Dr. and Mrs. Irving Ludlow 1987.1076 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 evoking 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. It's highly possibly this type of bowl was produced in one of the kilns operated by the trading office Busan in Southern Gyeongsang province, and exported to Japan. This type of rustic tea bowl was highly appreciated among advanced Japanese practitioners of the tea ceremony.