Duck-Shaped Ewer with Daoist Priest

Arts of Asia

Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), 12th century

Korea

One of the notable artistic accomplishments of the Goryeo period was the production of sculptural celadon ceramics, such as this ingenious duck-shaped vessel. The duck’s extended tail is swept upwards to form a handle, which supports a human figure holding a bowl that wine would have been poured into, and its beak is fashioned into a spout. The human figure wears a headdress and a flowing robe, indicating that he is a Daoist immortal and suggesting that this ewer was used for ritual or ceremonial purposes. In its carefully rendered details and beautifully translucent color, this vessel is both a technical tour de force and a playfully charming object for admiration and delight.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Asia

Title: Duck-Shaped Ewer with Daoist Priest
Place: Korea (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1100–1199
Medium: Stoneware with celadon glaze and underglaze incised decoration
Dimensions: 21.4 × 17.7 × 13.2 cm (8 1/2 × 7 × 5 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Bequest of Russell Tyson
Reference Number: 1964.1213
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/22525/manifest.json

Art Insitute of Chicago: Essential Guide, rev. ed. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2013) p. 104.
Kumja Paik Kim, Goryeo Dynasty: Korea’s Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392 (San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003), pl. 260, p. 261.
Elinor Pearlstein and James T. Ulak, Asian Art in the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago / Harry N. Abrams, 1993), p. 150, p.80 (ill)
Osaka, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Chicago Bijutsukan Meihinten: Masterpieces of Chinese Arts from The Art Institute of Chicago, (Osaka: Association for the Advancement of Fine Arts, 1989), pl. 113 (illus), p. 148.
Robert P. Griffing, the Art of the Korean Potter: silla, Koryo, Yi (New York : Asia Society; distributed by New York Graphic Society; Greenwich, Conn. 1968) Illus. P. 32. – An Asia House Gallery publication.
William M. Blair, “Russell Tyson” The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly, vol.57, no. 3 (Autumn,1963), pl.48. (illus)
The Toledo Museum of Art, Northeastern Asiatic Art: Korea, Mancuria, Mongolia and Tibet, Toledo, 1942, No. 53.
Kim Yunjeong, “The Influence of Taoism on Goryeo Celadon,” Celadon of the Goryeo Dynasty, Journal of Korean Art & Archaeology,vol. 6 (2012), p. 58, fig. 5.

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco: “Goryeo Dynasty: Korea’s Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392,” October 18, 2003-January 11, 2004.
Osaka, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, “Chicago Bijutsukan Meihinten: Masterpieces of Chinese Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago,” 1989, no. 96, traveled to the MOA Museum of Art, Atami and the Idemitsu Museum of Art, Tokyo.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Art of The Korea Potter,” Oct. 5 - Nov. 17, 1968.
Asia House Gallery, spring 1968.

Yamanaka & Company, Boston; sold to Russell Tyson (1867–1963), Chicago, Oct. 4, 1926 [the object was placed on long-term loan at the Art Institute of Chicago beginning in 1926]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 15, 1964.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.