Porcelain with cobalt pigment under transparent, colorless glaze
Dimensions:
H x W: 30.5 x 31.8 cm (12 x 12 1/2 in)
Style:
Bunwon ware
Type:
Vessel
Origin:
Bunwon kilns, Gwangju city, Gyeonggi-do province, Korea
Date:
19th century
Period:
Joseon period
Description:
Jar of globular form with high straight neck and low foot.
Clay: moderately coarse white porcelain, fired reddish on the footrim.
Glaze: transparent, slightly bluish, uneven in some places, and with areas of grit.
Decoration: underglaze blue trefoils around shoulder; main area with four circles: two with cranes among clouds and two with tortoises in waves; single line around foot.
Wooden box.
Label:
According to East Asian belief, the crane, depicted twice on this jar, becomes immortal at the age of two thousand, while the tortoise is said to live for ten thousand years. Auspicious symbols decorated many porcelain jars used for storage in the kitchens of nobility. Here, the tortoise rises from the waves in his role as messenger of the dragon king, who dwells in a palace at the bottom of the sea. The stylized "cloud collar" surrounding the neck is typical of cobalt-decorated jars made at the official Bunwon kiln.
Provenance:
From at least 1969 to 1970
Daisho Commercial & Industrial Co., Ltd, Tokyo, from at least February 12, 1969 [1]
From 1970
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Daisho Commercial & Industrial Co., Ltd., March 16, 1970 [2]
Notes:
[1] See correspondence dated February 12, 1969, authorizing Mr. Yoshinobu Daisho to ship the object, along with two other objects, to the Freer Gallery, copy in object file.
A receipt, dated May 13, 1969, confirms the delivery of the objects to the Freer Gallery for the consideration for purchase, copy in object file.
[2] See Invoice issued by the Daisho Commercial & Industrial Co., Ltd, dated March 16, 1970, copy in object file.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Korean Ceramics (February 4, 1997 to August 7, 2011)
