Bowl with Fish and Waves in Relief

As early as the 800s, the practice of drinking tea and wine became an important part of elite leisure culture in Korea. A wide bowl like this example was especially suitable for drinking powdered tea shaved from a compressed tea cake, the most commonly enjoyed type during the Goryeo period. While the inlaid image of bloomed chrysanthemums decorate the outer wall, that of fish swimming in waves in relief appear on the inner wall of this tea bowl. Such elaborate design tells us that tea wares then were aesthetically invested objects of luxury.