White Porcelain Peach-Shaped Water Dropper
Korean
Description
In Chinese Daoist legend, peaches are the fruit of immortality in the paradise of the Queen Mother of the West. This white peach is gently nestled between brown-tinged branches, one of which serves as the spout.
Maribeth Graybill, The Enduring Art of the Korean Potter, December 12, 2004-November 6, 2005
Subject Matter:
The shape of a water dropper tends to hold symbolic significance. The peach is a symbol of abundance, prosperity, and longevity.
Physical Description:
A round peach-shaped water dropper. The peach itself is covered in a white glaze and covered in bamboo stalks and leaves. These are embossed onto the peach and stand out even more as the iron brown underglaze comes through strongest on these details. The iron brown underglaze can also be seen along the base of the waterdropper. The hole is at the top of the peach.
This is a peach-shaped water dropper shaped in a mold, featuring mold-impressed designs of peach leaf and branch on the surface. Its upper part is perforated by two water holes and the body is very light. Parts of the designs in high-relief are thinly glazed and tinged with brown. The foot is low. It was fired on the kiln shelf, which is an indication that it was produced in the early 20th century.
[Korean Collection, University of Michigan Museum of Art (2014) p.185]
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