Water Dropper
1800-1870 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Korean water droppers formed part of a set of accoutrements necessary for writing and painting. Before using the brush, the writer would prepare the ink by grinding an ink stick on an ink stone with a few drops of water dispersed from the dropper.
The wide variety of shapes and designs that characterise water droppers of the 18th and 19th centuries displays the imagination and wit of their makers and consumers. This dropper takes the shape of a globe and has an underglaze-painted decoration of stellar constellations and trigrams – figures made of three solid or broken parallel lines, used in divination according to the Taoist I Ching. These may have referred to the horoscope of the owner.
The wide variety of shapes and designs that characterise water droppers of the 18th and 19th centuries displays the imagination and wit of their makers and consumers. This dropper takes the shape of a globe and has an underglaze-painted decoration of stellar constellations and trigrams – figures made of three solid or broken parallel lines, used in divination according to the Taoist I Ching. These may have referred to the horoscope of the owner.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Porcelain, thrown, luted, painted, and glazed |
| Brief description | Cer, Korea, Choson, blue and white |
| Physical description | Painted with stellar constellations and trigrams, and a yinyang sign on the centre top. The glaze has a bluish tinge. There is a short foot ring. Colour: Blue and white |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Korean water droppers formed part of a set of accoutrements necessary for writing and painting. Before using the brush, the writer would prepare the ink by grinding an ink stick on an ink stone with a few drops of water dispersed from the dropper. The wide variety of shapes and designs that characterise water droppers of the 18th and 19th centuries displays the imagination and wit of their makers and consumers. This dropper takes the shape of a globe and has an underglaze-painted decoration of stellar constellations and trigrams – figures made of three solid or broken parallel lines, used in divination according to the Taoist I Ching. These may have referred to the horoscope of the owner. |
| Bibliographic reference | Beth McKillop. Korean Art and Design. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992.
38 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.100-1937 |
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| Record created | February 3, 2000 |
| Record URL |
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