Two More Dragons

Hey, long time no see! I bought these and have absolutely no hopes of identifying when or where theyre from exactly, the antique shop says the grey one is 100 years old and they said the green one is 60-70 years old. Allegedly the grey came from China and the green is from Korea. I bought them in Jinju-si South Korea. Green's maker's mark is totally incomprehensible. No idea why they'd put it where theyre going to fill it with glaze but either way, no idea what it's supposed to be. It's a nice celadon green, which was popular here. The pictures don't quite do the shade justice. If you'd like any more pics, I'm more than happy to share! Grey looks to be earthenware and is surprisingly heavy, didnt think it would be hollow but it is, at least in the front part. The maker's mark stands out pretty decently but i haven't put much time into looking for whose it might be.

 

Nice dragons, draconic. The green colour is called celadon, a Korean favourite.
I love the grey one, and the way it is holding the pearl 'close to its chest'.

 

Theres some really neat celadon pieces out here, vases especially. some have a really neat almost chainlink look to them, with holes so you can see inside. the national museum has a celadon dragon shaped ewer, national treasure #61, which is really neat (they sell replicas too!!). i'd probably buy a vase if they werent so hard to get back to the states. i'll have to be pretty careful with my dragon crew when i move back grey's eyes are a bit scary but i like it a lot. interesting to me that they only gave it two little legs!

 

Which is why it holds the pearl under its chin, the way we used to pass oranges in a game as kids. I really love that one.

Will you be in trouble even if they are not essential to Korean culture or something like that? Do you have to get a certificate for the Korean one?

 

yknow, i didnt really think about that. i think they grey one would be okay if it truly is from china but the other two i've got could be a bit trickier. theres a lot of info about what you cant take *in* to korea but not a ton on what you cant take *out*...

 

Me too. Very cute.

 

I didn't find anything either. But I did discover that you have to declare 'eavesdropping equipment' when entering Korea. Do they mean a glass that you can hold against the wall to hear a conversation in the other room?

 

Just found this:

"Export regulations:
All baggage will be inspected against verbal declaration.
Prohibited: Korean antiques and curiosities, unless a certificate is attached by the Minister of Culture and Information."
https://www.worldbaggagenetwork.com/guidelines/republic-of-korea/

So you would probably have to get a certificate for the celadon dragon. I think it is likely that you'll get it, because it is precious to us, but not important enough for Korean heritage.

 

Interesting, I'll definitely need to look into getting one of those. Might help me learn more about the items too. Thank you so much for the information!

 

I'm sure it beats going to a Korean jail.

Probably will. Will you let us know what they say re age etc?

 

Of course! I got my last one appraised and may do the same for these, it wasnt all that expensive to do. If the certification process happens to include more information I'll be happy to share.