Bowl with Inlaid Chrysanthemum and Lychee Design

1300s

Bowl with Inlaid Chrysanthemum and Lychee Design, 1300s. Korea, Goryeo period (918-1392). Pottery; diameter of mouth: 20.5 cm (8 1/16 in.); overall: 8.6 cm (3 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of John L. Severance 1918.459 As early as the seventh century, the practice of drinking tea and wine became an important part of elite leisure culture in Korea. A wide bowl like this example was especially suitable for drinking powdered tea shaved from a compressed tea cake, the most commonly enjoyed type during the Goryeo period. The outer wall is lavishly decorated with the inlaid image of flowering vines, the inner wall with the inlaid image of chrysanthemum and lychee. Such elaborate design tells us that tea wares then were aesthetically invested objects of luxury. Kangjin and Buan kilns in Jeolla province were the two major production centers for celadon wares during the Goryeo period (918-1392).