Page 115 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

Catalogue 58 Bowl. Korean, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910); first half of the 16th century. Buncheong with white slip,
H. 3 3 ⁄4 in. (9.5 cm), Diam. of rim 6 ⁄8 in. (17.2 cm), Diam. of foot 2 ⁄8 in. (6.6 cm). Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul
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The consequence of this transformation on the choice of ceramics was a rather radical shift
from the highly polished, classical Chinese antiques of the Song period (960–1279), which had long
been favored, to mostly non-Chinese and contemporary (or slightly older) ceramics that displayed
a taste for the imperfect and organic. Among the types newly introduced into the tea ceremony
were Korean-made imports — the first reference to a Korean tea bowl in tea diaries and other records
of the period appears in 1537 — and domestic products, especially those from the Iga, Bizen, Shiga-
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raki, Seto, Mino, Raku, and Karatsu (or Hizen) kilns. Vessels brushed with or dipped in white slip
(see cat. 58), the type of buncheong ware being produced in contemporary Korea (where it was
considered less desirable than porcelain), satisfied the wabi tea practitioners’ quest for the rustic
and thus entered Japan’s cultural mainstream. In addition, stamped buncheong ware, popularly
known in Japanese as mishima, and especially the more roughly executed type, was also embraced
by wabi tea masters, as demonstrated by the well-known tea bowls in Japanese collections today.
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In one notable example (fig. 3.2), both the interior and exterior of the deep dish have been brushed
with white slip, nearly obliterating the stamped patterns underneath. Two large characters spelling
Yebin, the name of a Korean government bureau, are written prominently in iron pigment on one

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