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Water Dropper

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 Porcelain with cobalt blue underglaze decoration
  • Place Made: Korea
  • DATES 19th century
    DYNASTY Joseon dynasty
    PERIOD Joseon period
    DIMENSIONS Height: 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm) Diameter at mouth: 3 9/16 in. (9.1 cm) Diameter at base: 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 85.114.4
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roger Elliot and Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ford in memory of Jean Alexander
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Asian Galleries, South, 2nd floor
    CAPTION Water Dropper, 19th century. Porcelain with cobalt blue underglaze decoration, Height: 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roger Elliot and Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ford in memory of Jean Alexander, 85.114.4. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 85.114.4_PS11.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 85.114.4_PS11.jpg., 2017
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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