Celadon Prunus Vase with Inlaid Cloud and Crane Design

The Goryeo prunus vase derives from the Song Chinese form, but by about the twelfth century it had found its own beauty, full and yet supple in line. This piece shows that Goryeo form at its most refined. It is 42.1 cm high, 6.2 cm across the mouth and 17 cm across the foot. The mouth is small and low, flaring slightly; the shoulders are broad and commanding. A band of flowers runs below the mouth and a band of lotus above the foot. The whole body carries clouds and cranes: inside circles inlaid in black and white, cranes fly upward among clouds; outside the circles, cranes fly downward. Sending the cranes in different directions seems to reach beyond the limits of a vessel's surface, spreading the space out in every direction and freeing it from the framed divisions. In that search for variety, and in the assurance of the decoration, the excellence of Goryeo ceramics and the invention of the people who made them can be seen.

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Where it is

Region

Seongbuk-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보