Blue-and-white tilted jar with peony and ‘cloud collar’ designs
Korean
Description
Like the jarlet in this same case, this vessel is decorated with a peony spray and a “cloud collar” of highly abstracted ruyi scepter heads at the neck. The similarity shows how certain popular patterns could be repeated again and again. Here, the potter’s greater ambitions were foiled when the pot sagged to one side during firing.
Physical Description:
This jar is assumed to have been produced near the Bunwon-ri kiln, Joseon’s last official court kiln, after its privatization. Its shape and design follow the blue-and-white porcelain produced in Bunwon-ri kiln, although the jar was warped during firing. It features a foliage design around the neck, a yeoui-head design around its shoulder, and peony scrolls on the belly, all painted in cobalt blue. The jar has short neck and flared rim. The jar is glazed all the way down to the foot rim, on which remain sand spur marks. Its background color is dark, while the pigment has spread in some parts.
[Korean Collection, University of Michigan Museum of Art (2014) p.172]
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