Korean Buncheong ceramics : from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art ; [in conjunction with the Exhibition "Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art", on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from April 7 to August

New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2011. — 178 p. — ISBN-978-1-58839-421-7 Sensuous, whimsical, sophisticated, rustic, and masterful, buncheong ceramics emerged in Korea at the end of the fourteenth century. This breathtakingly diverse expression grew out of inlaid celadon, the celebrated aristocratic stoneware synonymous with the Goryeo period (1918–1392). During the nearly two centuries of its production, buncheong would be increasingly taken up by regional potters, who reveled in the newfound freedom to shape and decorate the adaptable stoneware with unprecedented wit, imagination, and insight. The early Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) was a time of unparalleled creativity and cultural expansiveness. Buncheong came into its own, bringing inventive changes to traditional forms, while its bold new decorative techniques and motifs responded to consumer preferences and facilitated mass production. At the same time, buncheong flaunted its materiality—the tactile, often uneven appearance that set it apart from the more refined ceramics of the court. In the wake of the Japanese invasions of Korea at the end of the sixteenth century, buncheong, adopted by Japanese tea connoisseurs, would inspire generations of Japanese potters. In the twentieth century, Korean artists rediscovered their heritage, intrigued by the medium's visibly handmade aesthetic. Twenty-first-century readers will be struck by the familiar yet refreshing quality of many of these vessels, which recall the force of modernist gestural pieces and more recent abstract expressions. An original and perceptive exploration of a phenomenon unique in the history of art, Korean Buncheong Ceramics presents together for the first time early Joseon buncheong ware, Edo-period Japanese reinterpretations, and modern and contemporary works that revitalize this dynamic tradition. The volume features more than seventy-five masterworks—some never before published—from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, whose collection of buncheong ceramics is arguably unparalleled in its quality and breadth; the Metropolitan Museum; and Japanese collections. Bold, sophisticated, engaging, and startlingly modern, Buncheong ceramics emerged as a distinct Korean art form in the 15th and 16th centuries, only to be eclipsed on its native ground for more than 400 years by the overwhelming demand for porcelain. Elements from the Buncheong idiom were later revived in Japan, where its spare yet sensual aesthetic was much admired and where descendants of Korean potters lived and worked Bold, sophisticated, engaging, and startlingly modern, Buncheong ceramics emerged as a distinct Korean art form in the 15th and 16th centuries, only to be eclipsed on its native ground for more than 400 years by the overwhelming demand for porcelain. This work presents scholarship on Buncheong's history, manufacture, use, and overall significance.