Page 1 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

Korean Buncheong Ceramics

(continued from front flap) from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art

The volume features more than seventy-five master- soyoung lee and jeon seung-chang
works — some never before published — from Leeum,
Samsung Museum of Art, whose collection of Korean Buncheong Ceramics Sensuous, whimsical, sophisticated, rustic, and
buncheong ceramics is arguably unparalleled in masterful, buncheong ceramics emerged in Korea at
its quality and breadth; the Metropolitan Museum; from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art the end of the fourteenth century. This breathtakingly
and Japanese collections. diverse expression grew out of inlaid celadon, the
celebrated aristocratic stoneware synonymous with
the Goryeo period (918–1392). During the nearly two
Soyoung Lee is Associate Curator, Department centuries of its production, buncheong would be
of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, increasingly taken up by regional potters, who reveled
New York. in the newfound freedom to shape and decorate
the adaptable stoneware with unprecedented wit,
Jeon Seung-chang is Chief Curator, Leeum, imagination, and insight.
Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul. The early Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) was a

time of unparalleled creativity and cultural expan-
siveness. Buncheong came into its own, bringing
inventive changes to traditional forms, while its bold
new decorative techniques and motifs responded to
consumer preferences and facilitated mass produc-
tion. At the same time, buncheong flaunted its
materiality — the tactile, often uneven appearance
that set it apart from the more refined ceramics
of the court.
In the wake of the Japanese invasions of Korea
at the end of the sixteenth century, buncheong,
adopted by Japanese tea connoisseurs, would inspire
176 pages; 200 illustrations, including 125 in full color; generations of Japanese potters. In the twentieth
2 maps; timeline; glossary; guide to Korean transliterations; century, Korean artists rediscovered their heritage,
bibliography; index
intrigued by the medium’s visibly handmade aes-
thetic. Twenty-first-century readers will be struck by
the familiar yet refreshing quality of many of these
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue vessels, which recall the force of modernist gestural
New York, New York 10028 pieces and more recent abstract expressions.
www.metmuseum.org An original and perceptive exploration of a
phenomenon unique in the history of art, Korean
Distributed to the trade by:
Yale University Press the metropolitan museum of art Buncheong Ceramics presents together for the first
P.O. Box 209040 time early Joseon buncheong ware, Edo-period
New Haven, Connecticut 06520-9040 yale university press Japanese reinterpretations, and modern and contem-
www.yalebooks.com porary works that revitalize this dynamic tradition.

(continued on back flap)
printed and bound in spain printed in spain