In Korea, porcelains covered with a nearly translucent glaze and fired at high temperatures of approximately 1300 degrees Celsius, were first made in the 15th century. Underglaze iron oxide was used for creating designs on celadons during the Koryo dynasty (918-1392), but became especially popular in the 17th century. Underglaze copper-red decoration was first developed in the 12th century, but was virtually unused until the 18th century. Dating from the 18th century, this jar is painted in underglaze copper-red with large lotus plants. Gaps in the thickly applied glaze allow the red body colour to show through in several places.
Physical description
The jar is painted in underglaze copper red with large lotus plants. Its form is S shaped. Gaps in the thickly applied glaze allow the red body colour to show through in several places.
Colour: Red and white
Place of Origin
Korea (made)
Date
1700-1800 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Thrown, painted and glazed porcelain
Dimensions
Diameter: 23.2 cm, Height: 28.9 cm
Descriptive line
Jar, porcelain, with underglaze red painted decoration, Korea, Choson dynasty, 18th century
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
W.B. Honey. Corean Pottery. London: Faber and Faber, 1947.
John Ayers. Far Eastern Ceramics at the V&A. 91.
Beth McKillop. Korean Art and Design. London: V&A, 1992. Plate 29.
Figgess, Sir John. "Korean art in the United Kingdom. Part 1: the collections of London and Oxford".Korean Culture, vol.6, no.2. p. 9, plate 8.
Nick Pearce. "The Samsung Gallery of Korean Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum." Arts of Asia 22.6, 1992. p.128, fig.9.
B.C. Rhee. Masterpieces of Korean Art, Yi Dynasty volume, plate 372.
Baker, Malcolm and Richardson, Brenda, eds. A Grand Design : The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1997. 431 p., ill. ISBN 1851773088.
Although acquired by the Museum in 1913, this stunning jar first became the focus of attention in the 1940s, when its “rugged” qualities were seen as exemplifying the potter’s art. It is one of several examples of decorated white porcelain showing a boldly painted lotus flower. Porcelain decorated solely in underglaze red was produced at small private kilns rather than at the official kiln established at Punwon after 1752. When acquired, this jar was thought to be seventeenth-century, but it has now been redated, on stylistic grounds, to the eighteenth century.
The jar was among a group of twenty-one pieces of Chinese and Korean pottery acquired in 1913 from S. M. Franck & Co., an importer of goods from the Near and Far East, a firm from which the Museum had made regular purchases since 1883. The jar cost £10 and was recommended for acquisition by ceramics curator Bernard Rackham, who described it as “a remarkable specimen.” It was similarly regarded as a masterpiece by his successor, William Honey, who published extensively on Korean ceramics during the 1940s and wrote of this piece: "There is a great jar at South Kensington, an old possession of the Museum, which was the first example to reveal to me the peculiar beauty of the Yi dynasty wares. . . . I like to regard this rugged pot as a test of ceramic education."
Lit. Honey, 1946, pp. 64-7; Honey, 1947, pp. 15-6; McKillop, 1992a,
pp. 70-4
LIZ WILKINSON
Exhibition History
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 12/10/1999-16/01/2000)
Subjects depicted
Flowers; Lotus
Categories
Porcelain; Containers; Ceramics; Vases
Collection code
EAS
