The Korean Culture Notebook

A small ceramic vessel on a Korean scholar's desk may have supplied water for preparing ink. It is easy to notice the brush and overlook this supporting tool. A ring-shaped porcelain water dropper offers a useful starting point: look at what the vessel did before deciding that its unusual shape was only decoration. Contents 1. Start with one documented object 2. Separate the tools on the desk 3. A short exercise with the official images 4. Questions before a museum visit 1. Start with one documented object The Metropolitan Museum of Art's ring-shaped water dropper is cataloged as Korean porcelain from the nineteenth century, during the Joseon dynasty. Its recorded diameter is 3¾ inches, or 9.5 centimeters, and its object number is 2004.554. The museum explains that a scholar might have used such a vessel to drip water onto an inkstone while grinding an ink stick for calligraphy or painting. It also notes the popularity of porcelain droppers in varied shapes during that centu...