Bowl with Inlaid Cranes and Clouds Design

As early as the seventh century, 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. The image of flying cranes amid clouds that decorate the inner wall of this tea bowl is considered an auspicious sign particularly about the king's good governance.