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Catalog Data

Medium:
Unglazed stoneware
Dimensions:
H x Diam: 47.1 x 38.4 cm (18 9/16 x 15 1/8 in)
Type:
Vessel
Origin:
Gyeongsang-do province, Korea
Date:
late 5th-mid 6th century
Period:
Three Kingdoms period, Silla kingdom
Description:
Large jar with rounded body and elongated neck.
Assembled from paddle-and-anvil--formed body, wheel-thrown neck. Shoulder also smoothed by means of wheel, as shown by presence of closely spaced horizontal marks. Lower body, an irregular hemisphere, shows traces of diagonal scraping and smoothing.
Clay: fine stoneware, made irregularly gray on surface by process of smudging at the conclusion of firing. Some adhesions of earth.
Decoration: the elongated and somewhat flaring neck divided into three tiers by pairs of "bowstring" lines, probably applied with a die; the central and lowest tiers filled by triangles outlined with a four-tooth comb and each enclosing one dotted circle, perhaps incised with a compass. The seam between the neck and shoulder marked by a squared coil of clay. The shoulder defined by a "bowstring" line bordered on each side by a channel. Above the shoulder line, a narrow band outlined by two parallel incised lines and filled by triangles incised with a four-tooth comb. The shoulder line forms the upper defining line of a wider band (the lower edge a single incised line) also filled by triangles incised with a four-tooth comb, with each triangle whose base rests on the lower line enclosing one dotted circle.
Provenance:
From early 1960s to 1985
Rear Adm. George Washington Pressey (died 1966) and Elizabeth Lee Berger (1913-2002), Washington, DC [1]
From 1985
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Elizabeth Lee Berger, January 3, 1985 [2]
Notes:
[1] According to information in the object's record, the vessel was acquired in Korea by Mrs. Berger and her first husband, Rear Adm. George Washington Pressey (died 1966), when they were posted there in the early 1960s.
[2] See Invoice, issued by Mrs. Elizabeth L. Berger (Mrs. Samuel D. Berger), signed and dated 3 January 1985, copy in object file.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Korean Ceramics (February 4, 1997 to August 7, 2011)
Korean Ceramics of the Koryo Dynasty (May 9, 1993 to August 7, 2011)
Previous custodian or owner:
Mrs. Elizabeth Lee Berger (1913-2002)
Topic:
ceramic  Search this
Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE - 676 CE)  Search this
Korea  Search this
stoneware  Search this
unglazed  Search this
Korean Art  Search this
Credit Line:
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Accession Number:
F1985.4
Restrictions & Rights:
Usage conditions apply
Related Online Resources:
Google Cultural Institute
Korean Ceramics in the Freer Gallery of Art
See more items in:
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
Data Source:
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3a3896b63-76d0-42f7-a82b-40867012223e
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:fsg_F1985.4