Brush pots of hexagonal shape and in perfect condition are extremely rare. This masterpiece is a product of the official Punwon factory which made wares for the royal household and for those with government status. The elegant painting on this example shows a scholar seated under a pine tree by a river gazing at two egrets. There is a full moon overhead. Designs such as this on underglaze blue porcelain were often painted by literati or scholar-gentlemen from Seoul. In their leisure time they would travel up the Han River by boat or on horseback to place their orders for brush holders, water droppers and other requisites of the writing desk. On occasion they are thought to have painted the underglaze designs at the porcelain kiln as a hobby. This accounts for the exceptionally skilled and painterly quality of many designs.

For other 18th-century underglaze blue porcelains decorated with figure paintings of a similar style see Byung-chang Rhee, ed., Masterpieces of Korean Art--Yi Ceramics (Tokyo, 1978), pls. 225 and 234.