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Bottle

About mid- to late-18th century

Korea

Porcelain painted with underglaze cobalt blue

H. 15 1/2 x Diam. 8 1/4 in. (39.4 x 21 cm)

Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, 1979.197

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Unlike the semicontemporaneous large jar (1979.196), this long-necked bottle is defined by sharp precision and symmetry in both form and decoration. It was manufactured in the official, court-patronized kilns (near modern Seoul), which became increasingly less private and exclusive and more commercial particularly over the course of the 19th century. This bottle, however, was most likely owned by an affluent member of the elite class. On the globular main body of the bottle is painted four repeating patterns of a lotus blossom encircled in scrolling leaves. The lotus flower was originally a symbol of Buddhism, but here the motif has been removed from its religious meanings and transformed into a purely decorative pattern.