Oil Bottle thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Korea, Room 47g

Oil Bottle

1200-1300 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This small bottle was made in the latter half of the Koryo dynasty (918-1392) as suggested by its dense and geometric inlay. The motif seen here of cranes flying in stylised clouds was very popular on celadon wares of this period. The bottle is likely to have contained perfumed oil.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Stoneware, thrown, inlaid and glazed
Brief description
Celadon bottle with inlaid design
Physical description
The oil bottle is of a flattened globular form with white and black inlaid decoration and covered with a celadon glaze. The upper body is adorned with four inlaid cranes spaced evenly, in flight among clouds. Round the foot is a border of lotus petals. There is some glaze degredation towards the foot and there are three spur marks on the foot ring.

Colour: Greyish green, white and black
Dimensions
  • Height: 5.9cm
  • Diameter: 10cm
Style
Gallery label
2. Three celadon cosmetic oil bottles Late 12th century to early 14th century Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) Cosmetic oil bottles made of stoneware were used as early as the Unified Silla period (676–935). During the Goryeo dynasty, these bottles were made of celadon and decorated with a variety of techniques such as iron-brown underglazes, incisions or inlays. Smaller bottles kept perfumed oil and oils for mixing into pigments for makeup, while the larger bottles stored hair oils. These oils were often pressed from apricot stones, castor seeds, and rice bran. Plain, inlaid celadon and celadon with iron brown underglaze Museum no. C.560-1918, C.521-1918 given by Mr Aubrey Le Blond Museum nos. CIRC.26-1928(05/04/2019)
Credit line
Given by Mr Aubrey Le Blond
Production
(dates to 1150-1250 in ELISE data)
Subject depicted
Summary
This small bottle was made in the latter half of the Koryo dynasty (918-1392) as suggested by its dense and geometric inlay. The motif seen here of cranes flying in stylised clouds was very popular on celadon wares of this period. The bottle is likely to have contained perfumed oil.
Bibliographic references
  • Bernard Rackham. Catalogue of the Le Blond collection of Corean pottery . London: V&A, 1918. 24.75.
  • Young-sook Pak. Koreanische Tage (Korean Days) (Exhibition catalogue). London: Ingelheim am Rhein, 1984. 30.
  • Beth McKillop. Korean Art and Design. London: V&A, 1992. Plate 7 (detail).
Collection
Accession number
C.560-1918

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
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