Page 132 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

Two nineteenth-century examples of inlaid Yatsushiro ware are emblematic of the late
Edo-period revivals of buncheong idioms, reflecting what had become the antiquarian predilections
of the tea culture and, by extension, of ceramic industries throughout Japan during this period. A
small censer, now missing its original lid, is thinly potted and cleanly executed, with a streamlined
design (cat. 63). Vertical lines with undulating contours are inlaid, at fairly evenly spaced intervals,
over the entire exterior surface of the vessel. The thin lines of white create a hypnotic contrast with
the very dark, reddish chocolate clay. Another example, a cylindrical tea bowl, is more thickly
potted and heavier than the censer and decorated with two large inlaid peonies on the exterior
(cat. 64). The flower is rendered in a simplified and stylized form. Surprisingly, the peony is rarely
taken up as a decorative motif on Edo-period Japanese ceramics. Thus, the appearance of this
classic flower on inlaid Yatsushiro ware seems to indicate a conscious revival of antique buncheong
pieces, examples of which undoubtedly circulated in the hands of discerning collectors. Yet rather
than attempting to translate the elegant and sumptuous flower into a vibrant design (as one finds in
earlier buncheong ware, see cats. 10, 31), the Yatsushiro potter rendered a more formalized pattern.

Catalogue 64 Tea bowl with peony decoration. Japanese, Edo period (1615–1868); 19th century.
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Stoneware with inlaid design (Yatsushiro), H. 3 5 ⁄8 in. (9.2 cm), Diam. 4 ⁄4 in. (10.8 cm).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Colman, 1893 (93.1.88)

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