Korean Bowl, Chopsticks & Spoon from the Koryo Dynasty

Appraised on: August 19, 2000

Appraised in: Boston, Massachusetts

Appraised by: Lark Mason

Category: Asian Arts

Episode Info: Tasty Treasures (#1520)

Originally Aired: November 14, 2011

IMAGE: 1 of 2  

Appraisal Video: (1:54)

GUEST: I bought it at an estate auction. I guessed that it was probably from Japan or...

APPRAISER: You say estate auction, where?

GUEST: In Winchester, Virginia.

APPRAISER: And what did you pay for it then?

GUEST: I paid $60.

APPRAISER: During the ninth, tenth, 11th century in China, there was a great flowering of scientific knowledge, cultural inspiration. It was equivalent to what we call our Renaissance. This knowledge and this inspiration for the arts was disseminated from China to the other Asian cultures-- Japan and Korea. So what you have here basically are Chinese designs, but they're Korean.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: Dating from the 11th, 12th century...

GUEST: Oh, my God.

APPRAISER: A period called the Goryeo Dynasty. Can you believe it?

GUEST: Wow. I thought they were old. The auctioneer at the time had mentioned that he thought they were buried, that they buried objects with them.

APPRAISER: Absolutely were buried. They were food offerings for life in the other world. This was intended to go with the person to the next world so they could eat.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Now, they're made of bronze. They look very similar to the ones you get in China. The difference is, with this bowl, the very steep-sided, rounded shape is much more typical of Korean material from that period, from the Goryeo period. This green color you see here. That's an indication of authenticity in age, because that only results from the action of minerals with water and acids in the soil that create this sort of natural patina. So it's a very, very interesting group of things, probably dug up in Korea and discovered sometime, I would think, back in the 1920s. The value for the entire group has got to be somewhere between about $1,500 and $2,000.

GUEST: Oh, that's great.

APPRAISER: So that's a pretty good find, too.

GUEST: Yeah, that is good, very good.