<div dir="ltr"><div>Re: art history question (Ji-Hyun Lee, a Thai ceramic box in Gunsan Univ.)</div><div><br></div><div>Andrew's inquiry and mentioning of Thai ceramic just triggered my old memory of two interesting Thai pieces back in 2008. While conducting my research on Buncheong ceramic for my MA dissertation, I spotted two Ayutayan (1350-1767) iron-underglazed boxes in collection of the Gunsan University Museum, Gunsandae 289, 290, and 291, labled as "Iron underglazed buncheong ware." </div><div><a href="http://www.buncheong.net/07doye/08_03.jsp?tail2=03&seq=302¤tPage=2">http://www.buncheong.net/07doye/08_03.jsp?tail2=03&seq=302¤tPage=2</a></div><div><a href="http://www.buncheong.net/07doye/08_03.jsp?tail2=03&seq=303¤tPage=2">http://www.buncheong.net/07doye/08_03.jsp?tail2=03&seq=303¤tPage=2</a></div><div><br></div><div>I reported these pieces to the Museum curator and asked for their detailed provenances, but have not heard much from him since and these items are still labeled intact in the Gimhae Buncheong DB. I believe these are probably not purchased items but excavates from the coastal area, because the surfaces are heavily worn out and the museum is not likely to pay much for such enigmatic pieces. Would they possibly have been lost properties of a SE Asian marine dispatched to Joseon via Ming China?</div><div><br></div><div>- Ji-Hyun<br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">2015-09-15 1:00 GMT+09:00 <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:koreanstudies-request@koreanstudies.com" target="_blank">koreanstudies-request@koreanstudies.com</a>></span>:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Send Koreanstudies mailing list submissions to<br>
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1. Re: art history question (Youngsook Pak)<br>
<br><br>---------- 전달된 메시지 ----------<br>From: Youngsook Pak <<a href="mailto:yp@soas.ac.uk">yp@soas.ac.uk</a>><br>To: Korean Studies Discussion List <<a href="mailto:koreanstudies@koreanstudies.com">koreanstudies@koreanstudies.com</a>><br>Cc: <br>Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2015 23:16:46 +0100<br>Subject: Re: [KS] art history question<br><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>Dear Mr. Zatouchi,<br><br></div>Lotus is a universal symbol of sun, even birth and death, in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Hindism, long before it became the central motif in Buddhist art.<br><br></div>Youngsook Pak<br><br></div>(Professor of Korean Art History) <br></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 11 September 2015 at 09:55, Andrew <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:zatouichi@gmail.com" target="_blank">zatouichi@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid"><div dir="ltr">Dear Maya and Soyoung,<div><br></div><div>Thanks for your responses.</div><div><br></div><div>I understand Maya's points on comparative methodology and do not mean to imply any hyperdiffusion theory or direct contact between Korea and ancient Greece. To my knowledge, Three Kingdoms and earlier earthenware do not have the lotus or cloud/wave designs but I assume some Chinese (southern or northern?) ceramics contemporary to the introduction of celadon to Goryeo, must have - (or are they found on bronzes?)</div><div><br></div><div>I find it hard to believe the ancient Mediterranean patterning is a coincidence; some of the items have the 'lotus petals' around the base and neck, and geometric cloud/wave just below the neck, very similar to the convention on medieval maebyeong. What I hope art historians might have common knowledge of is whether this design is found in India or the Middle East and which direction it might have traveled.</div><div><br></div><div>Is there concrete evidence that the lotus petals have always been lotus petals, or could it have been a reinterpretation of an existing conventional design? The same pattern could take on new interpretations according to local culture (as e.g. the reinterpretation of Buddhist symbols by Confucian literati {or were they still culturally Buddhist?})</div><div><br></div><div>Separately, in Thailand I've seen very high quality celadons, with iron-ore painted fish designs similar to the fish on <i>buncheong-sagi</i>. I always wonder about the fish on early Joseon <i>buncheong</i> because they are absent from the preceding Goryeo celadon.</div><div><br></div><div>sincerely</div><span><font color="#888888"><div>Andrew</div></font></span></div>
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