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Vase

Asian Art

On View: Asian Galleries, South, 2nd floor
This vase illustrates the revival of Goryeo-period celadon technology in the early Joseon dynasty. While the technique of carving designs and filling them with black and white slip remained roughly the same as that of the preceding dynasty, the lines of the design are thicker and less controlled than in Goryeo inlay. The color of the celadon glaze is now much browner, as a result of impurities in the glaze or of less control over firing conditions. The hand-drawn rendering of the cranes seated on willow trees has a naïve charm seen in many later Buncheong wares.
MEDIUM Buncheong ware, stoneware with inlaid black and white slips
  • Place Made: Korea
  • DATES first half of 15th century
    DYNASTY Joseon dynasty
    DIMENSIONS Height: 9 15/16 in. (25.3 cm) Diameter at mouth: 2 1/16 in. (5.3 cm) Diameter at base: 3 7/16 in. (8.8 cm) Diameter at widest point: 6 3/8 in. (16.2 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 2004.28.104
    CREDIT LINE The Peggy N. and Roger G. Gerry Collection
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Buncheong ware wide-shouldered bottle (Korean: maebyeong) with narrow neck and everted rim. Crane and lotus design between lappet bands inlaid with black and white slip under celadon glaze. Foot rim uneven. The exaggerated S-curve of wide shoulder, narrow waist, and flaring base is typical of transitional maebyeong forms in early Joseon dynasty. The inlaid slip is rougher than those in the Koryo [sic] dynasty, and the design is usually divided into horizontal sections. Citation: McKillop, Beth, "Korean Art and Design": Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992, pp.63-64, pl.22. Condition: rim damaged and repaired. (From original catalogue card) The maebyeong, or prunus vase form, evolved in the celadons of Goryeo and was later developed in buncheong ware in the early Joseon dynasty, although white porcelain maebyeongs were rarely made. This vase possesses the distinctive S-curve of maebyeong made in the period between late Goryeo and early Joseon dynasties. With the design on the body divided into four horizontal areas, the vase is decorated with a band of lotus petals inlaid on the shoulder and the base. The central portion is decorated with lotus, willow, and birds in black and white inlay. The layout of the designs shows influence from Goryeo celadon wares with inlaid designs from the fourteenth century, but detailed expressions are noticeably exaggerated and distorted. It is a fine work of art illustrating the distinctive features of the Joseon buncheong ware made in the fifteenth century. From "Korean Art Collection in the Brooklyn Museum" catalogue.
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Asian Galleries, South, 2nd floor
    CAPTION Vase, first half of 15th century. Buncheong ware, stoneware with inlaid black and white slips, Height: 9 15/16 in. (25.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, The Peggy N. and Roger G. Gerry Collection, 2004.28.104. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (in collaboration with National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Daejon, Korea), CUR.2004.28.104_view1_Heon-Kang_photo_NRICH_edited.jpg)
    IMAGE side, CUR.2004.28.104_view1_Heon-Kang_photo_NRICH_edited.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph (in collaboration with National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Daejon, Korea), 2005
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