Page 69 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

The technique of creating a surface design with stamps, which evolved from the inlay method,
afforded much more efficient, high-quantity manufacture and, consequently, more widespread
distribution. Excavations of kiln sites attest to the large quantities of stamp-patterned pieces that
were produced, mostly of the most basic functional types, such as bowls and dishes. They include
coarsely made pieces (especially in Gyeongsang Province) but also examples made meticulously
from more finely processed raw materials; this is visible in the clean execution of the stamped
motifs and of the application of the slip over the stamped decoration, as well as in the fact that
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they were fired in individual saggars rather than stacked. As pointed out in Jeon Seung-chang’s
essay in this volume, the high quality of stamp-decorated buncheong ware, especially that of the
1420s to the 1460s, is the result of the system of taxation, which required the presentation of
regional products, and of the quality control exercised at the regional kilns by the central govern-
ment before the establishment of the court porcelain kilns in Bunwon about 1466. Buncheong
examples inscribed with the names of various government bureaus testify to these factors.
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The extensive use of the stamp-decoration technique, to a far greater extent than on late
Goryeo celadon, dramatically altered the aesthetics of buncheong. Rather than each motif being

Catalogue 29 Bowl with decoration of rows of dots. Korean, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910); first half of the 15th century.
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Buncheong with stamped design, H. 3 3 ⁄8 in. (8.5 cm), Diam. of rim 8 in. (20.3 cm), Diam. of foot 2 ⁄2 in. (6.3 cm).
Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul

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