Lobed maebyeong

Vessels like this one, with its relatively narrow base that elegantly swells to broad shoulders and then narrows dramatically at the mouth, first gained popularity in China in the 900s, and came to be called “plum vessels, ” or meiping in Chinese. Known as maebyeong in Korea, they are sometimes described as having been used for displaying branches of blossoming plum or other flowers but were more likely used to store plum wine. The lobes of this gracefully curving maebyeong are meant to suggest the sectioned exterior of a melon.