Korean silla dynasty covered bowl
When you think of antiques, its amazing to realize that this bowl was being made at the same time the Bible was being written on the other side of the world, between 57 BCE and 668 CE.
High-fired grey stoneware was produced by the Silla kingdom as well as did the contemporary Baekje and Gaya states. Stoneware requires a high firing temperature (800°-1000° C), and this technology was, no doubt, connected to the furnaces required to produce iron in the Gaya confederation which was rich in that metal. The most common kiln type in Silla was the 'tunnel' or climbing' kiln, so-called because they were built into hillsides. They could be 60 feet long and 15 feet wide with shelving cut into the interior of the slope to stand pottery on and a chimney shaft dug to rise up the inside of the slope. There is no evidence of deliberate glazing in this period.
Small containers such as this one could have been used for many things. They could have been for cosmetics or used on special occasions for food, not liquids. Examples of foodstuffs could be spices, soybean paste, red pepper paste, kimchi (a seasoned vegetable dish), or fermented fish sauce.
This covered bowl comes with this Certificate of Origin