Page 22 - March 17, 2020 Impotant Chinese Art, Sotheby's, New York

Fig. 1 A moon jar, Joseon dynasty, 18th century. © Detroit Institute of Arts Fig. 2 A moon jar, Joseon dynasty, 18th century. © Cleveland Museum of Art Fig. 3 Moon jar, 1650–1750. Korea; Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). Porcelain with clear
glaze. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P110+.
圖一 朝鮮王朝 十八世紀 白釉滿月花罐 © 底特律美術館 圖二 朝鮮王朝 十八世紀 白釉滿月花罐 © 克利夫蘭藝術博物館 Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
圖三 朝鮮王朝 1650-1750 年 白釉滿月花罐 舊金山亞洲藝術博物館 艾弗里•布倫戴
奇收藏 B60P110+ 圖片 © 舊金山亞洲藝術博物館

to restrain himself from overly refining the jar, lest his extra of expensive, non-native, unnecessary cobalt ornamentation, white complexion, a wide shoulder set just above the center and an unevenly applied white glaze in the Leeum Samsung
effort strip out the qualities of the clay and human touch that and indeed any decoration whatsoever, demonstrates giving the impression of levity, and very fine lines winding Museum of Art, Seoul (National Treasure No. 309). For
give the vessel its vitality. societal prioritization of frugality over excess, pragmatism around the body from being worked on the wheel. The very examples attributed to circa the early 18th century, see
The sensibility of 17th and 18th century moon jars are highly over whimsy, purity over corruption, and the indigenous subtle asymmetry in the jar’s profile is almost imperceptible one with similar proportions to the present jar, except with
emblematic of the political, intellectual, and cultural context over the foreign; values promoted by the Silhak (‘practical at first glance, but nonetheless imbues the vessel with an a distinct lean to one side, formerly in the Avery Brundage
in which they were produced. During that period, Korea learning’) school of Korean neo-Confucian thought which essential spirit. Collection and now in the Asian Art Museum of San
turned inward from its neighbors due to the aforementioned became influential from the late 17th century. That the Joseon dynasty moon jars of the 18th century have been Francisco (fig. 3) (accession no. B60P110+), published in
tensions, giving rise to distinctly Korean art forms, such as moon jar could be used as a humble storage container preserved in numerous museum collections. Compare a National Museum of Korea, ed., Korean Art from the United
the moon jar, which were independent of creative practices further enhanced its appeal to craftsmen and consumers similarly proportioned moon jar of the same size in the States, Seoul, 2012, pl. 8; one of wider build with a lower,
in neighboring China and Japan. At the same time, neo- who adhered to Silhak principals. At a metaphysical level, collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit (fig. 1) slightly flattened shoulder exhibited in Special Exhibition of
Confucianism was the official state doctrine and underpinned the transformation of a piece of earth, worked by human (accession no. 1982.4), published in Haely (Haeyoon) Ewha Womens University Museum’s 80th Anniversary: White
all aspects of society. The ideology advocated achieving hands, into a form echoing a celestial body, which preserves Chang, ‘Korea’s Moon Jars – Transported, Transfigured, and Porcelain in the Joseon Dynasty, Ewha Womens University
societal and cosmological harmony through the correct the natural idiosyncrasies of its fundamental material Reinterpreted,’ Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. Museum, Seoul, 2015, cat. no. 019; and a third, which
performance of rites, the fulfilment of social hierarchies and creator, gives moon jars their universal visual appeal, 92, no. 1/4, pp. 36-38, 40, fig. 1; a closely related example features a more conical lower body and generously rounded
and responsibilities, dedication to moral cultivation, and and allows them to embody the neo-Confucian pursuit of in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland shoulder, formerly in the collection of Charles B. Hoyt and
the observation of nature, particularly with respect to harmoniously integrating the three realms of the universe: (fig. 2), illustrated on the Museum’s website (accession no. now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (accession no.
understanding the forces that influence the universe and earth, man, and the cosmos. 1983.28); a jar with heavier proportions, formerly owned by 50.1040), illustrated in the catalogue The Charles B. Hoyt
the mind (li 理 (fundamental principal), and qi 氣 (essential For these reasons, moon jars of the 17th and 18th century the influential 20th century British potters Bernard Leach Collection Memorial Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
energy)). The austerity, purposefulness, and discipline are considered a quintessential expression of mid- to late (1887-1979) and Dame Lucie Rie (1902-1995), and now in 1952, cat. no. 678.
required to achieve these ideals are reflected in the chaste Joseon culture. The present moon jar is a particularly fine the collection of the British Museum, London (accession no.
aesthetic of the moon jar. Moreover, the artisan’s eschewal example attributed to the 18th century. It has a luminous 1999,0302.1); and one with nearly symmetrical proportions

40 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10644 41