Page 8 - Symbols_of_Identity_Korean_Ceramics_from the Chang Collection

Foreword

We are delighted to present, within the series of collection-based studies by the Smithsonian’s
Asian Cultural History Program (ACHP), this volume by Christopher Lotis and Michel D. Lee on
the Korean ceramics assembled by Dr. Chester and Mrs. Wanda Chang.

The research for this book was undertaken as part of the Asian Cultural History Program’s Korean
Heritage project, established and maintained through private donations since 1985 to “support, ac-
quisition, conservation, restoration and exhibition of Korean collections, and to support research on
Korea’s Heritage and other Korean cultural activities at the Smithsonian Institution.” Both authors
are Smithsonian researchers who served on the core team that produced the National Museum
of Natural History’s Korea Gallery, first opened to the public in 2007 and now seen by millions of
visitors each year. That exhibition includes a “timeline” consisting primarily of ceramics, along with
a few other objects, to illustrate a broad overview of Korean history, with periods corresponding
to those used in this catalog. Our choice of ceramics for that purpose was partly a practical choice
since they are sturdy and (unlike paintings or textiles) allow continuous display even in the high
light levels of a long-term gallery; but it was also made possible by the fact that ceramics have such
an iconic status in Korea’s cultural representation and identity. As this volume notes, two of the
objects in that exhibition were loaned by Dr. and Mrs. Chang. I should add that our work on that
exhibition first introduced us all to the breadth and depth of their important private collection.

This theme of the relationship between ceramics and cultural identity is explored in this volume,
especially as it relates also to a particular family’s collection, and also to the broader study of the
personal and social aspects of collecting. The book thus forms a contribution not only to the study
of Korea’s material heritage but also to Korean-American or Asian-American studies, and to the
history of collecting. It will surely be of interest to art as well as social historians, and to all those
who appreciate the aesthetic quality of Korea’s ceramic art.

The authors’ “behind-the-scenes” study of this private collection included the creation of an exten-
sive research database about it, not only the ceramics included in this volume but also paintings,
costumes, bronze works, and many other objects that could form the basis for subsequent studies.
The collection includes some important twentieth-century ceramics that have not been included
within this volume; these await study alongside other works by contemporary artists in this wide-
ranging collection. As the authors emphasize, the component of the Chang collection selected for
publication here has been extensively tested using thermoluminescence testing. For this reason,
these objects constitute an important “type collection” of tested pieces for this type of materials
analysis, against which other ceramic works may be compared.

This book should therefore serve as an important reference for work on its topic, as a unique and
well-illustrated introduction to this private collection and its significance; and hopefully also as a
stimulus for other studies within this and related private collections.

Paul Michael Taylor
Director, Asian Cultural History Program (and)
Curator, The Korea Gallery, National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
December 2010

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