Korean Buncheong Ceramic Tea Bowl with White Slip Glaze Joseon Dynasty

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An early ceramic tea bowl (chawan) from Korean dated to 16th century of the Joseon Dynasty. The gracefully potted and … Read more An early ceramic tea bowl (chawan) from Korean dated to 16th century of the Joseon Dynasty. The gracefully potted and glazed bowl was made in the shape of Katade (Strong Hand) which features a rounded shape with a flared lip, supported by a foot ring of medium height. The bowl was decorated with white slip and can be characterized generically as the last Buncheong style. Its entire interior and the upper half of the exterior is covered in a quickly white slip glaze by dipping, which resulted in a lovely horizontal stripe. This quick technique was used widely in the final phase of the Buncheong ware circa 16th century. The white slip pattern on this bowl is known as Muji (without the bottom) when the white slip skips the base. Five faint spur marks (meato) remain on the foot ring.
The white slip tended to be thin on which a top layer of transparent glaze was applied. Due to this nature, the glaze was often porous with crackles. With time, these bowls would acquire a characteristic patina from the long period contact with tea. As seen in the interior of this chawan, the dark color of the tea has seeped through the crackles on the glaze and left permanent stains. These aged beautiful staining patterns is called Amamori (Rain Leak), a wabi-sabi effect that is sought after by seasoned collector. There is also one very thin kintsugi repair on the wall.
From a Japanese collection, the chawan comes with a tomobako box and wrapping cloth (from a later age). The storage box bears a paper label on which Kanji inscription was noted "Ancient Hakeme Chawan, Karade Type".
See a group of very similar tea bowls in the collection of National Museum of Korea, illustrated on page 136-137 of the book "Earth Fire Soul: the masterpieces of Korean ceramics". See less