Dragon-shaped Celadon Wine Pot

National Treasure #61
Goryeo Dynasty, 12c
15.3 cm (6 in) height
National Museum of Korea, Seoul

If there was ever a "baroque" piece of Korean art, that would have been understood instantly by any European goldsmith, this is it. The figure is a dragon-fish, settling belligerently on a lotus base. The head with its long snout, fangs, horns, and neck ruff belongs to a dragon, but its other elements - the horizontal fins, the scaly body, the vertical fins and tail - belong to the fish family - a puffer fish perhaps, given its swollen body, or a Siamese fighting fish, given its belligerence and the shape of its pectoral fins.

There exist parallel images in the West, for example the 1910 Trifari pearl belly fish pin with red enamel in the lower photo.

In general, this form in Asia relates to the makara that appears on the roofs of so many Asian temples.