JOSEON DYNASTY (15TH CENTURY)

Buncheong, literally meaning "powder green," is a stoneware brushed or inlaid, as here, with white slip, liquid clay. A robust new era of ceramic design was ushered in by the early Joseon potters. It is typical of Joseon stoneware that the coarse clay body is heavily potted, here in pleasing contrast with the intricate inlay. The overglaze is thin and transparent with a greenish cast and satin sheen. The boldness of conception and spontaneity of these inlaid patterns has been admired consistently in Korea and Japan and in the West since the turn of the twentieth century.