Page 75 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

Alongside the abstract designs consisting of a few strokes and swirls of the brush, there are
decorations whose abstraction derives more from an economy of shape, as in the floral elements
on a drum-shaped bottle (fig. 2.6) or a jar (cat. 33), both dating to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth
century. A study in elegant and harmonious design, the peony blossoms and leaves are rendered
in distilled, elementary, and highly evocative outlines. Unusually, the area around the stylized lotus
petals on the shoulder of the vessel has been painted with iron-brown pigment. The dramatic
contrasts between dark and light, brown and white, heighten the stylization of the total design.
In rare cases, the iron painting is combined with other decorative techniques, as on a
fifteenth-century jar on which the scaly body of the fish is rendered with stamped rows of dots,
while its fins, like the lotus flowers and other motifs surrounding the animal, are painted in iron
pigment to create a singular and visually lush design (cat. 34). The patterns along the inside edge,
around the base of the neck, and around the base of the jar are inlaid.

above: Figure 2.6 Detail of catalogue 13
opposite: Catalogue 34 Jar with decoration of fish and lotuses. Korean, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910); second half of the 15th century.
Buncheong with inlaid, stamped, and iron-painted design, H. 11 in. (27.8 cm), Diam. of mouth 6 in. (15 cm),
Diam. of foot 3 ⁄8 in. (9.8 cm). Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Treasure no. 787
7

60