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Water Dropper in the Shape of a Peach

Asian Art

On View: Asian Galleries, South, 2nd floor
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. The peach-shaped dropper here, with its copper-red decoration, is a particularly fine example; peaches are an emblem of longevity.
MEDIUM Glazed porcelain with cobalt blue and copper red decoration
  • Place Made: Korea
  • DATES last half of 18th century
    DYNASTY Joseon Dynasty
    DIMENSIONS overall: 4 3/8 x 3 3/4 x 3 7/8 in. (11.1 x 9.5 x 9.8 cm) Height: 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm) Width: 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm) Depth: 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1993.185.3
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Robert S. Anderson
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Asian Galleries, South, 2nd floor
    CAPTION Water Dropper in the Shape of a Peach, last half of 18th century. Glazed porcelain with cobalt blue and copper red decoration, overall: 4 3/8 x 3 3/4 x 3 7/8 in. (11.1 x 9.5 x 9.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Robert S. Anderson, 1993.185.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 1993.185.3_PS11.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1993.185.3_PS11.jpg., 2017
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