Lot 2472. An underglaze blue and iron-decorated water dropper in the form of the Geumgang Mountains, Joseon dynasty, 19th century. Sold for US$ 10,000 (€9,305). Photo Bonhams

Of irregular oval silhouette displaying two opposing Buddhist shrines nestled amid finger-like peaks that also disguise an air hole at the top and a tiny water spot to one side, the surfaces colored with iron and cobalt washes beneath a glaze of pale blue-green hue that intensifies in color where thickly pooled, the glaze also covering the recessed base within the unglazed circular foot pad 4 3/8in (11cm) high

Notes: A number of these whimsical mountain-shaped water droppers are published from various collections. For examples in blue and white porcelain, see The Radiance of Jade and the Clarity of Water: Korean Ceramics from the Ataka Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1991. cat. no. 112, p. 148; and Christie's, New York, Korean Works of Art sale 7430, 22 April 1992, lot 52. For examples combining underglaze blue and iron washes similar to this lot, see the water dropper that entered the collection of the Musée Guimet in 1893, illustrated in The Poetry of Ink: The Korean Literati Tradition 1392-1910, Paris, 2005, cat. no. 46, p. 104; and Sotheby's, New York, Korean Works of Art sale 6961, 18 March 1997, lot 44.

Bonhams. ASIAN DECORATIVE ARTS, 11 Dec 2015 10:00 PST, SAN FRANCISCO