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Lot Essay
With clean lines, well-defined shape, and a beautiful pale blue glaze, this exquisite small jar likely was made to contain food. Indeed, the blush around its lower section suggests that it once held food macerating in a brown sauce which imparted a subtle stain; though not original to the piece, the pinkish-buff blush, which many connoisseurs find appealing, enlivens the jar’s otherwise unembellished surfaces.
Written with a brush in underglaze cobalt blue, an inscription on the jar’s base reads Yitonggung 履詷宫 (or, alternatively, Ritonggung). The character gung 宫 means “palace” and in this context ordinarily would indicate a particular royal residence—i.e., the Yitong Palace; in some instances, such a name, by extension, can refer to the principal occupant of the so-named palace. In fact, however, scholars have been unable to identify either a Korean royal palace or a member of the Korean royal household known by this name, so the meaning here remains obscure. The collection of the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo, includes a virtually identical small, square jar with exactly the same inscription on its base; even the style of the calligraphy in the two inscriptions is virtually identical.
A number of nineteenth-century Korean porcelains bear the name of a royal palace inscribed on the base in underglaze cobalt blue, the best-known of those names likely being Unhyeon, which refers to the Unhyeonggung, or Unhyeong Palace, where Yi Ha’eung (1820–1898), father of King Gojong (1852–1919; r. 1897–1907), lived. (Better known by his royal title Heungseon Daewongun, Yi Ha’eung served as regent from 1863 to 1873, during his son’s minority; he is remembered as a politician, as a government official, and as a talented painter of orchids.)
The unglazed lip indicates that this jar originally sported a cover, likely a low cover with short vertical sides, canted shoulders, and a broad flat top. The collection of the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo, includes a related eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century, small, hexagonal jar with a cover of the type just described. As the cover would have been fired in place, those portions of jar and cover that touched had to be left unglazed, as any glaze in those areas would have melted during firing, fusing jar and cover together and thus rendering the jar unusable.
The even, regular walls, fine white porcelain, and smooth, glassy glaze suggest that this jar likely was made at the kilns at Bunwon-ri, Gyeonggi province, to the southeast of Seoul, the Joseon capital. Active since the fifteenth century and long renowned for their wares, the Bunwon kilns produced the very finest porcelains during the later Joseon period. In 1752 the official government kilns in Gwangju were moved to Bunwon-ri; a steady production system ensued and thus production reached its zenith. Declining economic circumstances led to the transfer of the Bunwon-ri kilns to private hands in 1883, however, bringing to a close the history of Korea’s official kilns. The Atlas of World Art (2004) has aptly characterized the work of the Bunwon kilns: “Government-sponsored kilns at Bunwon-ri, near Seoul, produced an exquisite and distinctive Joseon white porcelain for use at court and for export to China. Its undecorated cream-colored surfaces, and austere elegant shapes were thought to reflect a purity of mind and moral character appropriate for Neo-Confucian patrons.”
The jar closest in style, inscription, and general appearance to the present jar is the one previously mentioned in the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo. Though differing in shape, an undecorated square bottle in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1979.413.3), and another in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (B60 P903), are kindred in style and date. And the fine porcelain, well-defined shape, and pale blue glaze of a cylindrical bottle with angled shoulders in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums (1991.613) compare favorably with those of the present jar.
Robert D. Mowry
Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus,
Harvard Art Museums, and
Senior Consultant, Christie’s
Written with a brush in underglaze cobalt blue, an inscription on the jar’s base reads Yitonggung 履詷宫 (or, alternatively, Ritonggung). The character gung 宫 means “palace” and in this context ordinarily would indicate a particular royal residence—i.e., the Yitong Palace; in some instances, such a name, by extension, can refer to the principal occupant of the so-named palace. In fact, however, scholars have been unable to identify either a Korean royal palace or a member of the Korean royal household known by this name, so the meaning here remains obscure. The collection of the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo, includes a virtually identical small, square jar with exactly the same inscription on its base; even the style of the calligraphy in the two inscriptions is virtually identical.
A number of nineteenth-century Korean porcelains bear the name of a royal palace inscribed on the base in underglaze cobalt blue, the best-known of those names likely being Unhyeon, which refers to the Unhyeonggung, or Unhyeong Palace, where Yi Ha’eung (1820–1898), father of King Gojong (1852–1919; r. 1897–1907), lived. (Better known by his royal title Heungseon Daewongun, Yi Ha’eung served as regent from 1863 to 1873, during his son’s minority; he is remembered as a politician, as a government official, and as a talented painter of orchids.)
The unglazed lip indicates that this jar originally sported a cover, likely a low cover with short vertical sides, canted shoulders, and a broad flat top. The collection of the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo, includes a related eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century, small, hexagonal jar with a cover of the type just described. As the cover would have been fired in place, those portions of jar and cover that touched had to be left unglazed, as any glaze in those areas would have melted during firing, fusing jar and cover together and thus rendering the jar unusable.
The even, regular walls, fine white porcelain, and smooth, glassy glaze suggest that this jar likely was made at the kilns at Bunwon-ri, Gyeonggi province, to the southeast of Seoul, the Joseon capital. Active since the fifteenth century and long renowned for their wares, the Bunwon kilns produced the very finest porcelains during the later Joseon period. In 1752 the official government kilns in Gwangju were moved to Bunwon-ri; a steady production system ensued and thus production reached its zenith. Declining economic circumstances led to the transfer of the Bunwon-ri kilns to private hands in 1883, however, bringing to a close the history of Korea’s official kilns. The Atlas of World Art (2004) has aptly characterized the work of the Bunwon kilns: “Government-sponsored kilns at Bunwon-ri, near Seoul, produced an exquisite and distinctive Joseon white porcelain for use at court and for export to China. Its undecorated cream-colored surfaces, and austere elegant shapes were thought to reflect a purity of mind and moral character appropriate for Neo-Confucian patrons.”
The jar closest in style, inscription, and general appearance to the present jar is the one previously mentioned in the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo. Though differing in shape, an undecorated square bottle in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1979.413.3), and another in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (B60 P903), are kindred in style and date. And the fine porcelain, well-defined shape, and pale blue glaze of a cylindrical bottle with angled shoulders in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums (1991.613) compare favorably with those of the present jar.
Robert D. Mowry
Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus,
Harvard Art Museums, and
Senior Consultant, Christie’s