Early Joseon Buncheong Gwiyal Flat Bottle

White slip was swept over the broad body with a coarse brush, and a single peony was then incised into it. The track of the brush and the line of the knife meet on one surface.

Where time has thinned the slip, the clay shows through here and there. To keep this bottle is, in effect, to keep a five-hundred-year-old drawing.

Related Objects in Museum Collections

A few related objects found on Korea’s e-Museum by searching for “분청사기 귀얄”. Comparing their forms is a quiet pleasure.