Page 103 - Symbols_of_Identity_Korean_Ceramics_from the Chang Collection

he bulbous body of this small, white porcelain incense
Tburner rests on a flared foot. It is topped with a disk-
like lip and a short collar on which the lid rests. The cover
is pierced with two sets of the Eight Daoist Trigrams (Kr:
Palgoe, Ch: Bāguà) separated by a column of three pierced
holes on each side. Some of the holes have not been pierced
all the way through or have become blocked by glaze. The ar-
eas where the body of the vessel and lid come in contact with
each other are unglazed. The base is glazed; the footrim is
unglazed with adhesions of kiln grit. The exposed, unglazed
areas of the body have oxidized to an orangish color.

Palgoe are ancient Chinese symbols that were used for divi-
81. nation. Their first literary mention was in the Zuo Zhuan
Lidded incense burner (Ch), the earliest Chinese narrative history compiled no
19th century, Joseon later than the fourth century BC. The “Classic of Changes”
TL results: fired between 100 & 200 years ago (Kr: Yeok Kyeong, Ch: Yì Jīng), dating to the third century
Porcelain BC, gives commentary on the eight different emblems. Each
H: 9 cm, W: 8 cm set of emblems, known as trigrams, consists of three parallel
lines that are either broken (two short lines) or solid (one
long line), symbolizing opposing forces. There are a total
of eight different combinations of trigrams, thereby giving
them the name, the eight trigrams.

The body of this vessel is based on Chinese metal incense
burners. The lids of these types of censers are pierced so
that smoke passes through the openings when incense is be-
ing burned inside. The associated natural phenomena and
names of the two trigrams represented are fire (Kr: Ri, Ch:
Lí) and water (Kr: Gam, Ch: Kăn).

The collector recalls that the ceremonial objects in cats. 81-93
were stored and used in an ancestral hall (Kr: sadang, Ch: cí-
táng) between the central part of Jukdong Palace and the pal-
ace pond. As a child, he remembers seeing his grandparents
using them regularly for ceremonies to commemorate their
ancestors (Kr: jesa). They were brought to Los Angeles, CA in
the 1950s by the collector’s family and were used at least ev-
ery three months when they first came to America due to the
number of ancestors they regularly honored. The family would
often take offering vessels such as these to a local Korean com-
munity Baptist church in Los Angeles to practice jesa. They
were also lent out to other Koreans in the area.

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