Page 48 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

aSSeSSIng Buncheong’S appeal

Buncheong represents an early Joseon transformation of the features and techniques of late
Goryeo celadon, adapted to the tastes of its makers and consumers. While influenced by
contemporary porcelain, buncheong ceramics embodied innovative forms and unprecedented
decorative techniques and motifs.
Taking as a watershed the changes in patronage and consumption — and the establishment
of the official court kilns that resulted from them — buncheong ware falls into two groups,
distinguished by quality and decorative modes: the earlier is made up of buncheong with neatly
inlaid and stamped designs, the later comprises works with incised, sgraffito-decorated, or
iron-painted motifs, as well as slip-brushed objects and pieces that are entirely slip-dipped. At
first glance, when compared with contemporary porcelain’s refined white clay and delicate glaze,
buncheong’s overall quality could be said to have deteriorated, but the greater freedom and origi-
nality permitted by the overwhelming preference for porcelain endowed its forms with freshness
and vigor and its decoration with an entirely new aesthetic. The more informal, experimental
atmosphere of buncheong kilns throughout the country fostered the development of a variety of
decorative compositions and motifs as well as regional characteristics. As a result, buncheong
moved away from its origin as a ceramic expression reflecting tradition, authority, and the tastes of
royalty and the elites. The new manner embraced playfulness, rusticity, and the sign of the hand-
made; to twenty-first-century observers, the resulting look conveys a modern, even modernist,
sensibility. Buncheong embodies both continuity and innovation, yet its complex layers of distin-
guishing features defy easy definitions.
In contrast to celadon or porcelain, buncheong’s distinction lies in its decorative styles.
When its potters looked to tradition for inspiration, they reinterpreted it or transformed it into new
shapes and decorations. They took motifs from everyday life, rendering them expressionistically,
yet seizing their essence and liberating them from convention. Freedom and naturalness reign in
the sense of proportion and space. More than half a millennium after its creation, buncheong
continues to startle, delight, and capture the imagination of art lovers everywhere.

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