Page 71 - Symbols_of_Identity_Korean_Ceramics_from the Chang Collection

ith a profile similar to two bowls joined to each other at
Wthe mouths, the top half of this jar is coated in a cream-
colored slip that has been brushed on. Two lateral running
lines have been incised into the slip so that the dark-colored
body material shows through—one just below the lip and
the other just above the middle of the jar. A stylized vegetal
scroll was painted, in iron oxide, on either side of the vessel,
between these lines. The jar was then coated in a thin layer
of buncheong, or “powder green” glaze. A star-like design
was impressed into the base in order to compact the clay to
prevent it from cracking during the firing process.
48.
Jar This type of buncheong ware, with iron oxide decoration
Second half of 15th–first half of 16th century, Joseon painted over a slipped ground, was made in kilns near Mount
Stoneware with slip and iron oxide decoration under Gyeryong in South Chungcheong Province, located in the
buncheong glaze western part of present-day South Korea. These kilns may
H: 12.8 cm, W: 14.5 cm have originally been set up by Buddhist monks in order to
make up some of the income that was lost when the Joseon
dynasty came to power and Buddhism lost official favor to
Confucianism philosophy. Wares produced in these kilns
1
were made for utilitarian purposes and often show signs of
careless potting and decoration, which gives the wares an
individualistic, rustic feel. However, vessels made in these
same kilns with more complicated decoration, often portray-
ing fish, can be executed with much skill—demonstrating
the fluid competence of the painter.

1 G. St. G. M. Gompertz, Korean Pottery and Porcelain of the Yi Period (New York: Frederick A.
Praeger, 1968), 34.
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