Bowl, Korea, Goryeo dynasty, 12th century. Stoneware with celadon glaze, Height: 6.2 cm. Brooklyn Museum, The Peggy N. and Roger G. Gerry Collection, 2004.28.165. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (in collaboration with National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Daejon, Korea)

Although these celadon bowls seem quite plain at first glance, both contain very delicate, hand-drawn decorations that were lightly incised into the clay before glazing. One bowl’s interior has a flower floating on barely visible ripples of water, while the other’s interior shows long-tailed birds flying. In both bases, the decorators appear to have used comblike instruments to create parallel, but gestural, lines in the clay.