Accession Number
2004/1.178

Title
Tall Ceremonial Stand for Jar

Artist(s)
Korean

Artist Nationality
Korean (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
5th century

Medium & Support
unglazed stoneware with cutout decoration

Dimensions
17 3/4 x 9 13/16 x 9 13/16 in. (45 x 24.8 x 24.8 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Bruce and Inta Hasenkamp and Museum purchase made possible by Elder and Mrs. Sang-Yong Nam

Label copy
March 28, 2009
This hourglass-shaped stand is assembled from three separately thrown pieces: a bowl on top linked to a larger bowl on the bottom by a cylindrical form in the middle. The complex form is unified by the vertically aligned rectangular and triangular cutouts and repeating patterns of horizontal ridges. Such architectonic stands can reach forty-five to fifty centimeters in height and originally supported round-bottomed jars similar to the ones in this case. The stands’ impressive height and eye-catching designs made them ideal vessels for funerary offerings. Similar stands have been excavated from Gaya tombs, but the same vessel type and design was also made in the neighboring kingdom of Silla. Tall ceremonial stands were made in Baekje as well and have also been found in Kyushu in southern Japan, attesting to the links between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago from the fifth to the sixth century.
(Label for UMMA Korean Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)

; Label copy

This ancient ceremonial vessel stand made to be
buried in a tomb provided practical and ritual objects for the deceased to use in the afterworld. It was likely created in the Gaya kingdom in the southern part
of Korea, a confederacy that existed alongside Silla, Baekje, and Gogryeo during the Three Kingdoms period. Gaya artisans were well known for their skills
in manufacturing iron and their ceramics. A distinctive feature of Gaya stoneware is the smooth curves of the forms and the decorative quality of design. The shape of this stand is typical of Gaya ritual vessels. 

Subject matter
Possibly for Shamanistic rituals or funeral offerings.

Physical Description
Tall hourglass-shaped stand. Composed of three separate parts: two bowls and a connecting cylinder. The pieces are unified with appliquéd bands encircling the cylinder horizontally as well as evenly spaced cut-out shapes of rectangles and triangles leading up the stand vertically in lines.

This is a dark grayish brown, cylindrical, high-fired stoneware vessel stand. Parts of the bowl-shaped section have a yellowish brown tint. The walls of the vessel are relatively thick and have a coarse texture. The upper part of the neck has a flared profile, but its rim slopes inwards. The cylindrical neck is divided into three sections by thick double raised bands. In each section of the neck are rectangular perforations that are vertically aligned with those of the other sections. The bell-shaped pedestal is divided into three sections by thin raised bands and has perforations vertically aligned with those of the cylindrical neck. Only the perforations of the uppermost section of the pedestal are triangular, while those in the two lower sections are rectangular.

[Korean Collection, University of Michigan Museum of Art (2017) p. 57]

 

Primary Object Classification
Ceramic

Primary Object Type
vessel

Additional Object Classification(s)
Ritual Object

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
ceramics (object genre)
ceremonial containers
earthenware
stands (mercantile structures)
stoneware (pottery)