Page 87 - Korean Buncheong Ceramics, Samsung Museum Collection (great book)

Birds
Perhaps the epitome of the graceful bird in Korean art is the
ethereal crane, symbol of longevity; on Goryeo celadon the crane
is usually inlaid in white with black accents highlighting its beak,
wings, and legs (see fig. 2.10). On buncheong ware, cranes are
largely replaced by birds of mostly indeterminate species. The bird
tumbling down on a fifteenth-century bottle (cat. 1b), however, may
be buncheong’s counterpart to the swooping crane on Goryeo
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celadon (see fig. 2.11). On the other side of the buncheong bottle,
the dominant initial impression is of a jumble of lines and dots, from
which the nearly abstract and startlingly effective depiction of a bird
in flight suddenly emerges (cat. 1a). A whimsical-looking bird on a
fifteenth-century jar (cat. 42) is rendered in simplified form, reduced

Figure 2.10 Maebyeong with decoration to its essential contours; yet its relaxed, slightly awkward gait and
of cranes and clouds. Korean, Goryeo exaggerated features are clearly discernible. The decoration of a
dynasty (918–1392); late 13th century. Celadon
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with inlaid design, H. 11 ⁄2 in. (29.2 cm), slightly later bottle exhibits seemingly random geometric patterns
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Diam. 7 ⁄8 in. (18.1 cm). The Metropolitan to create stylized, yet engaging creatures (cat. 43). Both these
Museum of Art, New York, Fletcher Fund, examples tend toward abstraction and caricature.
1927 (27.119.11)

Catalogue 1b Bottle with decoration
Figure 2.11 Detail of maebyeong with of birds. Korean, Joseon dynasty
decoration of cranes and clouds. Korean, (1392–1910); second half of the 15th
Goryeo dynasty (918–1392); second half of century. Buncheong with incised
the 12th century. Celadon with inlaid design, design, H. 8 5 ⁄8 in. (21.8 cm), Diam. of
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H. 13 ⁄4 in. (33.7 cm), Diam. 7 ⁄2 in. (19.1 cm). mouth 2 ⁄2 in. (6.2 cm), Diam. of foot
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New 3 ⁄8 in. (9.6 cm). Leeum, Samsung
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York, Gift of Sadajiro Yamanaka, 1911 (11.8.1) Museum of Art, Seoul

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