A PUNCH'ONG FLASK

CHOSON PERIOD (15TH--16TH CENTURY)

Details

A PUNCH'ONG FLASK
choson period (15th--16th century)
Of ovoid form with compressed sides, raised, very slightly splayed foot enclosing a recessed base, cylindrical neck and rolled lip, decorated in sgraffito style cut through white slip to create two large lotus panels on the wide sides and with two panels on each of the narrow sides, one of a four-petal flower and one of a large lappet, also carved below the neck with a lappet collar, the lower half of the neck also coated with white slip, covered overall save the foot rim with a transparent glaze of high sheen, random dense crackle, especially around the upper body, and with crystalline, green patches and two streaks on one lotus panel and in smaller areas elsewhere on the body
9in. (24.2cm.) high

Lot Essay

For similar vessels see Mishima henko ten/Exhibition of Punch'ong Ware of Yi Dynasty, Korea (Osaka: Museum of Oriental Ceramics, 1984), nos. 24, 25; Funsei saki ten/Punch'ong Ware of Choson Dynasty, Korea (ibid, 1996), pls. 33-37; Byung-chang Rhee, Masterpieces of Korean Art--Yi Ceramics (Tokyo: privately published, 1978), no. 71; G. St. G. M. Gompertz, Korean Pottery and Porcelain of the Yi Period (London: Faber and Faber, 1968), no. 24A.

Brushed slip and sgraffito carving are associated with the kilns of Cholla province in the southwest. The underglaze white slip is thickly applied over the heavily potted body and the design incised in relief to the ground, a contrasting greyish-green when the vessel is fired. The overglaze is thin and transparent with a faint greenish cast which can be more pronounced, as in this example, where the glaze is more thickly applied.

These punch'ong (literally, "powder green") wares signalled a robust new era of ceramic design. The boldness of conception and spontaneity of these carved patterns has been admired consistently in Korea and Japan and in the West since the turn of this century.