Water Dropper, Korea, Joseon dynasty, 19th century. Porcelain with cobalt blue underglaze decoration, Height: 4.4 cm. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roger Elliot and Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ford in memory of Jean Alexander, 85.114.4. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Throughout eastern Asia, writers and painters created their own ink by adding drops of water to dry pigment. Water droppers with tiny spouts were a standard accessory for any desk, and they became one of the few decorative items that proper Confucian scholars could display in their studies without accusations of frivolity. In Korea, water droppers took many imaginative forms and their decoration often included auspicious emblems of Chinese origin, such as bats, which represent good fortune. The peach-shaped dropper here, with its copper-red decoration, is a particularly fine example; peaches are an emblem of longevity.