Page 105 - Symbols_of_Identity_Korean_Ceramics_from the Chang Collection

83.

84.

83. nown as jegi (sacrificial wares), these two pedestaled
Pedestaled offering dish Kdishes have the Chinese character for “to offer sacrifice”
18th–19th century, Joseon (Kr: je, Ch: jì) written in cobalt blue in the center of the dish,
TL results: fired between 250 & 400 years ago enclosed within a circle. The tall foot is octagonal on cat. 83
Porcelain with underglaze cobalt decoration and cylindrical on cat. 84. Both footrims have been wiped
H: 7.4 cm, W: 16.7 cm free of glaze and have adhesions of kiln grit.

Jegi were made from a variety of materials including wood
84. and metal. However, white porcelain jegi were made for the
Pedestaled offering dish sole purpose of being used in ceremonies commemorating
18th–19th century, Joseon ancestors (Kr: jesa). White was symbolic of purity and also
TL results: fired between 250 & 400 years ago of death and mourning. Fruits, sweets, or other foods would
Porcelain with underglaze cobalt decoration have been piled on these dishes as offerings for deceased
H: 6.7 cm, W: 15.6 cm family members. Traditionally, these wares were stored in
ancestral shrines and had to be buried if broken. Koreans
continue to practice jesa today but use mainly wood or metal
offering dishes.

The collector explains that in addition to jesa, his family, start-
ing in the 1950s, also used the offering dishes (cats. 83-91)
during holidays, a person’s sixtieth birthday (Kr: hwangab),
and in recognition of the one hundredth day after a child’s
birth (Kr: baegil, Ch: băirì). After leaving Korea, the func-
tions of many of the ceramics the collector’s family brought
to America eventually changed or expanded in order to meet
the needs of a different social context.

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