Page 19 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

What IS Buncheong?

To understand the concept and characteristics of buncheong ceramics, we must examine the term
itself, which contains information on types, decorative techniques, clay, and glaze. Unlike, for
example, cheongja or baekja, the Korean terms for celadon and porcelain, respectively, buncheong
sagi is a modern academic nomenclature that does not appear in historical documents.
During the period of Japanese colonial rule (1910–45), Korea suffered the ravage and distortion
of its culture and heritage. The ceramics of the Goryeo and subsequent Joseon, which had been
admired by the Japanese of that time, were no exception. Buncheong ware was known by various
Japanese terms describing the categories of decorative techniques applied to this pottery — mishima
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(stamped and inlaid), hakeme (slip-brushed), and kohiki (slip-dipped) (see Soyoung Lee’s essay,
“Beyond the Original: Buncheong Idioms in Japan, 1500–1900, and Contemporary Revivals,” in this
volume). These terms, however, were widely used without any understanding of their origins or
meanings; the distortions of the concept and historical importance of buncheong prompted Korean
scholars to reclaim their cultural heritage and to take on the systematic study of Korean ceramics.
The art historian Ko Yu-seop (1905–1944), who wrote as Uhyeon, formulated the term
bungjang hoecheong sagi to classify a genre of stoneware from the early Joseon period that shares
similarities with celadon and porcelain in terms of shape, decoration, and glaze, but possesses
distinctive characteristics. Bungjang hoecheong sagi describes this ceramic’s appearance: a stone-
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ware whose surface is partially or entirely covered with white slip and has a gray-green color, as
exemplified by a fifteenth-century bottle (cat. 1) (sagi means stoneware, but was often used inter-
changeably with jagi, meaning porcelain or porcelaneous ware). Today this ceramic is widely known
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by its abbreviated name, buncheong sagi, or sometimes as buncheongja, by analogy with cheongja
(celadon) and baekja (white porcelain). Buncheongja underscores the scholarly assumption that
this stoneware might have been classified as jagi — porcelain or porcelaneous ceramics — even
during the time of its production, that is, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
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Regardless of the details of their nomenclature, the determinant feature of this group of
ceramics is the presence of white slip, whether applied over the surface or delicately infilled into
incised motifs. There is often no clear distinction between early inlaid buncheong ware and inlaid
celadon from the end of the Goryeo, in terms of decorative techniques, materials, and color of
glaze. Therefore, to clarify the definition, classification, and origin of buncheong, it is useful to
examine its early relationship to Goryeo celadon.
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Both celadon and porcelain had been produced in Korea since the tenth century. By the
eleventh century, celadon had evidenced remarkable progress in its quality, the color of its glaze,
and its decoration, and in the twelfth century it reached its zenith with the highly prized kingfisher

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