Page 10 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

Preface

In 2009, the Department of Asian Art staged the first important exhibition of Korean art, conceived
and organized by our own curator Soyoung Lee. The exhibition, entitled “Art of the Korean Renais-
sance, 1400–1600,” was on the arts of Korea in the early Joseon period. This was a time of political
and cultural regeneration in Korea after the collapse of the Goryeo dynasty and Mongol hegemony.
Among the masterpieces in “Art of the Korean Renaissance,” the works most emblematic of the
rebirth of Korean culture were the group of buncheong pottery. Not only do these ceramics repre-
sent a break with the celadon ware of the Goryeo period, but they embody a particularly Korean
genius. The idea for an exhibition and book highlighting this segment of Korean art was first
hatched in 2006 when Soyoung and I visited Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art during our trip
to Seoul. With Leeum’s support and cooperation, we are able to engage in a broad survey that
permits us to study the entire range of buncheong ware in the present exhibition.
Buncheong is a uniquely Korean art form, a genre of ceramics without parallel in other Asian
cultures, or, indeed, the world at large. The closest example sometimes cited is the Cizhou ware of
north China. But the similarities are superficial in every sense of the word. What buncheong and
Cizhou have in common are the surface decoration techniques of sgraffito and iron painting. Some
uncommon types of pottery produced in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in north China —
but not at the Cizhou kilns — do display a certain sensitivity to the natural properties of clay and
exhibit a sensual and earthy quality. This quality is developed to the highest degree in buncheong
pottery and becomes the distinguishing characteristic of the ware. It cultivates and maximizes the
natural features and potentials of the clay, and celebrates, rather than hides or transforms, the plastic
and tactile qualities of the raw materials and the potter’s hand. It is very much a potter’s art, and
one that is particularly associated with Korea — although its influence is nowadays felt worldwide.
The authors of the essays in this catalogue are Soyoung Lee and Jeon Seung-chang, curators
of the exhibition. They discuss the production and consumption of buncheong ware, the fundamen-
tals of buncheong’s design, and its appeal, through an exploration of its decorative modes and
motifs. Lee’s essay on the influence of buncheong on certain types of ceramics in Edo Japan and
on modern and contemporary pottery opens up a new avenue of research in the history of
ceramics in Asia. This catalogue represents a useful addition to the literature on buncheong ware
in the English language.

JAMES C. Y. W ATT
Brooke Russell Astor Chairman
Department of Asian Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York