Maebyeong refers to Korean vessels with a small slightly curled mouth rim, short neck, round shoulder, and constricted waist.[1] The maebyong is derived from the Chinese meiping (literally "plum vase").[2][3] They were first used to hold wine and later branches ofplum blossoms.[4][5]
Some of these vessels have a cup-shaped cover over the mouth, so that they seemed to be used to store high quality wine such asinsamju (인삼주, ginseng wine) or maehwaju (매화주; rice wine made with plum)[6] It would have originally had a lid and there are many maebyong with ginseng leaves on the surfaces.<span>[7]</span>
