A Korean slip-inlaid (sanggam) celadon-glazed cup stand 

Goryeo dynasty, 13th century 

With foliated border and foot, decorated to the central part with incised tiny lappets, the foliated rim inlaid in white and black slip with leafy chrysanthemum flowers within a carved border, covered overall in a translucent, crackled bluish-green glaze. 

13cm wide.

During the five centuries of the Goryeo dynasty, celadons were the main type of ceramics produced in the Korean peninsula. Owing their shades of blue-green as much to the minerals and metals within the raw materials - iron in the clay, and iron oxide, manganese oxide and quartz particles in the clay - as the particular conditions within the kiln, where the firing temperature was around 1150 degrees Celsius with a reducing atmosphere, Goryeo celadon ranged from the simplest designs, to incised, moulded, copper-decorated, and, finally, inlaid wares.

Whilst initially Korean celadons mostly adapted Chinese techniques from the Song dynasty, particularly around the border areas, and much inspiration was taken from Yue and Ru wares, by the mid-twelfth century potters started to articulate native tastes more confidently. This trend saw its culmination in the development of slip-inlaid (sanggam) wares, a technique barely known in China, which saw the etching of delicate designs in the clay, which were subsequently filled with black and white slip, before being covered in the translucent bluish-green glaze.

The present lot would have been made to support a foliated cup of similar decoration. cf. For a cup and stand of similar decoration, see Bonhams, New York, 23 March 2022, lot 786.