Lobed maebyeong

Korea

13th century

Stoneware with incidental ash glaze

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Vessels like this one, with its relatively narrow base that elegantly swells to broad shoulders and then narrows dramatically at the mouth, first gained popularity in China in the 900s, and came to be called “plum vessels, ” or <i>meiping</i> in Chinese. Known as <i>maebyeong</i> in Korea, they are sometimes described as having been used for displaying branches of blossoming plum or other flowers but were more likely used to store plum wine. The lobes of this gracefully curving <i>maebyeong</i> are meant to suggest the sectioned exterior of a melon. Gallery G206 Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Founda