Jar: C.17-1926

Current Location: Gallery 29 - Korean Gallery

Maker(s)

Pottery: Unknown (Possibly)

Entities

Jar
hangari

Description

Large jar with dragon design. Porcelain, thrown, painted in iron-brown, and glazed. This large jar (hangari) has a globular body shaped like a ginkgo fruit, a narrow base and a rolled rim. The body shows horizontal marks from throwing and a rib in the centre where it was luted together. The decoration, which is in underglaze iron-oxide, consists of a single rather humorously rendered dragon in pursuit of a pearl, among stylised clouds. A greyish-blue glaze covers the heavy, thick body, leaving patches unglazed; the footring shows traces of a sandy support.

Notes

History note: Formerly in the Tapp collection

Legal notes

Given by Mrs J.A. Venn in memory of the late Professor Sir W. Ridgeway

Place(s) associated

Kwangju-gun ⪼ Kyonggi province ⪼ Korea

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1926) by Venn, J. A.

Dating

17th Century#
Choson Dynasty (1392 - 1910)
Circa 1650 CE - 1700 CE

Note

In Korea the dragon motif was often simplified and stylised, conveying the idea rather than depicting the animal in detail. The bold brushwork is reminiscent of paintings of Bodhidharma by the seventeenth-century painter Kim Myongguk. This jar would probably have been used as a wine jar at feasts. Recently, sherds of similar jars have been found at Sindae-ri, a kiln site known to have been active from 1665 to 1676, and at Chiwol-ri, which was active in the following decade, both situated in Kwangju, Kyonggi province. A similar but finer jar is in the collection of the Seoul National Museum, see Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol.19, 1980, pl.188.

Sindae-ri or Chiwol-ri ware.