A blue and white and copper red decorated water dropper, 19th/20th century.
Modelled as a large auspicious peach resting on its stem, partially decorated with copper-red glaze. Height 9,5 cm.
Damaged pipe. Wear.
More information
Compare similar examples in the National Museum of Korea, Seoul, illustrated in The World’s Ceramics, Oriental Ceramics, vol. 2. Tokyo, 1982, pl. 309;
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, no. 1993.185.3
Throughout eastern Asia, writers and painters created their own ink by adding drops of water to dry pigment. Water droppers with tiny spouts were a standard accessory for any desk, and they became one of the few decorative items that proper Confucian scholars could display in their studies without accusations of frivolity. In Korea, water droppers took many imaginative forms and their decoration often included auspicious emblems of Chinese origin, such as bats, which represent good fortune. Peaches are an emblem of longevity.