Jar

Object Details

• Description

  Vase (maebyong) heavily potted with straight-sided neck, high bulging shoulder, tapering to medium narrow waist, beveled in at foot; foot rim edge rough and unglazed; fire-crack (shrinkage) runs around base, all the way through in one section and through the foot on one side. Shape is a litle irregular, the neck having slumped into the shoulder slightly on one side. On base a large patch of dull, rough, whitish ceramic material appears to be on top of the glaze, and some of the same material roughens the unglazed foot rim. This may result from contact with supporting material during firing.

  Clay: medium coarse, opaquish, off-white porcelain. Resonant.

  Glaze: transparent, feldspathic with green-blue tint especially apparent where it has collected thickly. In some spots (only in blue areas) where both paint and glaze have gone, possibly from broken blisters, the revealed biscuit has oxidized slightly to a deep buff. A stained crackle is on one side of neck.

  Decoration: two vigorous four-clawed dragons amid clusters of conventionalized clouds. Double lines around base and lip. Painted in underglaze cobalt blue line and wash in strong lively style. The wash is placed well within the contour of the clouds, leaving a white border around each form. The blue varies from a smokey light shade to a dark almost blackish blue with much variation in concentration.

• Provenance

  To 1974

  Oriental Art, Benjamin J. Stein, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [1]

  From 1974

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Oriental Art, Benjamin J. Stein, Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 1974

  Notes:

  [1] See Freer Gallery of Art Accession List, Collections Management Office. Also, original folder sheet note indicates name of source and location at date of acquisition (see Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record).

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Korean Art (June 4, 1982 to September 23, 1982)

  Korean Art (July 15, 1981 to September 15, 1981)

  A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions 1970-1980 (November 9, 1979 to May 22, 1980)

  Korean Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to October 13, 1978)

  Korean Art (June 24, 1977 to April 8, 1978)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Oriental Art, Benjamin J. Stein

• Origin

  Bunwon kilns, Gwangju city, Gyeonggi-do province, Korea

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1800s, 1890s

• Name

  Oriental Art, Benjamin J. Stein

• Place

  Gwangju city, Gyeonggi-do province, Bunwon kilns, Korea

• Topic

  Cobalt pigment, Porcelain, Art, Joseon period (1392 - 1910), Clear glaze, Korean Art, Ceramics, Dragon, Bunwon ware

• Culture

  Koreans

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)