\'ICroRlA AND ALBERT MUSEUM CA~FALGG¥E OF THr. ^LOND eefcfcECTH CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION ON CHINA AND THE CHINESE NK 4168J<7V64"'"""'' '""'"^^ ''''^iSJiNiMiMiiiii'it!^ "-* ^'"""^ collection of 3 1924 023 326 915 'M '"^ Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023326915 7 c<- Celadon vase with mislilnia decoration VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM DEPARTMENT OF CERAMICS CATALOGUE OF THE LE BLOND COLLECTION OF COREAN POTTERY By BERNARD RACKHAM LONDON; PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE 1918 ,\A ^'^ic. ft K Ala First printed August, I918 Crown Copyright Reserved rublication No. i2^C. Vricc ^s. 6d, V,',/,f, i.i.l!'^' PREFATORY NOTE THE collection of Corean pottery described in this catalogue was formed by Mr. Aubrey Le Blond during a visit to Corea in the year 191 3, and was deposited on loan at the Victoria and Albert Museum in June, 1914. Simultaneously with the publication of the catalogue the collection is being offered by Mr. Le Blond for presentation to the Museum, and I have much pleasure in making formal announcement of the acceptance of this valuable addition to the treasures of the nation, and in expressing sincere thanks for this notable gift. It is doubtful whether any larger or more important collection of Corean pottery exists in Europe, since only isolated specimens have hitherto made their way into the national museums. Through the generosity of Mr. Le Blond it now becomes possible for the public to study a phase of the potter's art which combines sound ceramic qualities with real beauty of form and decoration, and deserves a more general appreciation than it has hitherto received. The catalogue has been prepared by Mr. Bernard Rackham, Assistant Keeper of the Department of Ceramics. He desires to acknowledge his indebtedness not only to the authors named in the Bibliography, but also in particular to his colleague, Mr. Albert J. Koop, for advice given upon questions of epigraphy and history, and to Mr. Oscar Raphael for suggestions in the matter of chronological classification. CECIL SMITH. Victoria and Albert Museum, August, 1 91 8. CONTENTS PREFATORY NOTE . LIST OF PLATES BIBLIOGRAPHY . INTRODUCTION . CATALOGUE ... Part I. — Indigenous Corean wares § I. — Pottery of the Silk dynasty § II. — Early pottery of uncertain date § III. — Pottery of the Korai dynasty . Part II. — Wares of uncertain origin, Corean or Chinese § I.—" Marbled " ware . § II. — Brown-glazed wares § III. — Unclassed early white ware § IV. — White porcelain t*ART III. — Imported Chinese wares . § I. — Chien yao or Temmoku ware § II. — Tz'Q-chou ware Addenda ..... APPENDIX INDEX PAGE iii • V vii I • 23 23 23 • 23 • 23 )r Chinese 37 • 37 37 • 38 • 38 42 42 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 46 LIST OF PLATES Frontispiece. Vase. Corean celadon porcelain with mishima decoration. I. Earthenware of the Silk dynasty. 1. Brown-glazed wares of uncertain date. 3, 4. White porcelain. 5. Early porcelain of uncertain date. 6-2 1 . Celadon-glazed wares. 22-27. Mishima wares. 28-30. Slip-painted wares. 3 1 . Mishima jar. 32, 33. Slip-painted vases. 34. Early mishima bowl. 35. Celadon-glazed bowl and dish. 36. Celadon-glazed bowl. " Marbled " bowl. 37. Brown-glazed wares. 38. White porcelain cup. Brown-glazed porcelain bowl and stand. 39. Bowl of early cream-coloured ware. 40-43. 'Ting wares. 44. Celadon bowls, perhaps Northern Chinese. 45. Tz'ti-chou vase. 46-48. Stone chest. BIBLIOGRAPHY List of works consulted, with initials by which their titles are referred to in the text. Bosch Rkitz, S. C. — Metropolitan Museum of Art. Catalogue of an exhibition of early Chinese pottery and sculpture. New York, 1916. [Ch P Sc]. Brjnkley, F. — Japan and China, their history, arts, and literature. Vol. viii. Japan, Keramic art : vol. ix. China, Keramic art. London, 1904. [J Ch]. Burgess, James. — The Gandhira sculptures. {The Journal of Indian Art and Industry, vol. viii. London, 1898). [G Sc]. Burlington Fine Arts Club. — Exhibition of early Chinese pottery and porcelain, 1910. London, 1911. [B F A C Ex]. BusHELL, Stephen W. — Oriental ceramic art. Collection of W. T. Walters. New York, 1899. [O C A]. Description of Chinese pottery and porcelain, being a translation of the 'Pao shuo. Oxford, 1910. [ChPP]. Chavannes, Edouard. — Rapport sur les monuments de I'ancien royaumc coreen de Kao-keou-li. {Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, Comptes rendus. Paris, 1907.) [M K]. Chosen Koseki Dzufu ("Album of Corean antiquities"). Tokio, 19 15. De Groot, J. J. M. — The religious system of China. Leyden, 1892-1907. [RS Ch]. Fenollosa, Ernest F. — Epochs of Chinese and Japanese art, an outline history of East Asiatic design. London, 191 2. [ChJ A]. Fischer, Adolph. — Ueber koreanische Kunst. [Orientalisches Archiv, vol. i. Leipzig, 191Q-11). [K K]. •- Fuhrer durch das Museum fiir Ostasiatische Kunst der Stadt Coin. 2nd edition. Cologne, 19 13. [MO K]. FouCHER, A. — L'art gr^co-bouddhique du GandhAra. Vol. i. Paris, 1905. [A G-B]. Franks, Augustus Wollaston. — Japanese pottery. [Victoria and Albert Museum Art Handbook.] 2nd edition. London, 1906. [J P]. Geare, Randolph 1. — The potters' art in Korea. {The Craftsman, vol. vii. Syracuse, N.Y., 1904-05.) Getty, Alice. — The gods of Northern Buddhism. Oxford, 1914. [G N B]. Griffiths, JoHN.^-The paintings in the Buddhist cave-temples of Ajanti, Khandesh, India. London, 1896. [C T A]. GrOnwedel, Albert. — Buddhist art in India. Translated by Agnes C. Gibson, revised by James Burgess. London, 1901. [B A I]. HoBSON, Robert L. — Chinese pottery and porcelain. London, 191 5. [Ch P P]. Holme, Charles. — The pottery of the Cha-no-yu. {Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, London^ vol. viii. London, 1910.) viii BIBLIOGRAPHY JoUY, Pierre Louis. — The collection of Korean mortuary pottery in the U.S. National. Museum. {Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the year ending fune 30, 1888 — Report of the U.S. National Museum, Washington, 1890.) JuLiEN, Stanislas. — Histoire et fabrication de la porcelaine chinoise, ouvrage traduit du Chinois. Paris, 1856. [P Ch]. (A translation of the Ching-ti Chin t'ao lu.) Kankoku KoRAi-VAKi G^vachQ (" Album of Corean pottery"). 1910. Koto, B., and S. Kanazawa. — A catalogue of the Romanized geographical names of Korea. Tokio, 1903. Laufer, Berthold. — Chinese pottery of the Han dynasty. (Publication of the East Asiatic Committee of the American Museum of Natural History. — The Jacob H. Schiff Chinese Expedition.) Leiden, 1909. [Ch P H D]. Chinese sarcophagi [Ostasiatische Zeitschrifty vol. i. Berlin, 1912-13). [Ch S]- The beginnings of porcelain in China. (Field Museum of Natural History. Publication 192.) Chicago, 1917. [B P Ch]. Morse, Edward S. — Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Catalogue of the Morse Collection of Japanese pottery. Cambridge, U.S.A., 1901. [C J P]. New York Japan Society. — Chinese, Corean and Japanese potteries, catalogue of loan exhibition of selected examples, the Chinese and Corean authenticated by R. L. Hobson, the Japanese by Edward S. Morse, with a report on early Chinese potteries by Rose Siclcler Williams. New York, 1914. Parish-Watson & Co. — Chinese pottery of the Han, T'ang and Sung dynasties. New York, 191 7. [Ch P]. Petrucci, Raphael. — The Pelliot Mission to Chinese Turkestan. [Burlington Magazine, vol. xix. London, 191 1.) [P M]. Corean pottery. {Burlington Magazine, vol. xxii. London, 1912— 13.) [C P]. Platt, John. — Ancient Korean tomb wares. {Burlington Magazine, vol. xx. London, 1911-12.) Radloff, W. — Arbeiten der Orchon Expedition. Atlas der Alterthiimer der Mongolei. St. Petersburg, 1892. [A A M]. Rossetti, Carlo. — Corea e Coreani. Parte i". Bergamo, 1904. Stein, M. Aurel. — Ruins of Desert Cathay. London, 191 2. [R D C]. TovEi Shuko, an illustrated catalogue of the ancient Imperial Treasury called Shoso-in. Tokio, 1909. Waddell, Laurence Austine. — The "Dharani" cult in Buddhism. {Ostasiatische Zeitschrtft, vol. i. Berlin, 191 2-1 3.) [Dh C]. Evolution of the Buddhist cult, its gods, images and art. ( The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, No. 65. London and Woking, 19 12.) [E B C]. CATALOGUE OF THE LE BLOND COLLECTION OF COREAN POTTERY INTRODUCTION THE geographical position of the peninsula of Corea, stretching as an outpost from the Asiatic mainland towards the archipelago of Japan, accounts in large measure for the important part which the country has played during the past in the development of Far-Eastern culture. It was the highway along which civilisation marched from China and Central Asia, and through Central Asia from the Medi- terranean, to the island empire ; it was also through Corea that the Buddhist religion made its way to Japan. During the early centuries of the Christian era the country consisted of three independent States, Korio (Japanese, Korai or Koma ; Chinese, Kao-li), Pekche (Japanese, Hiakusai or Kudara ; Chinese, Po-chi), and Silla (Japanese, Shinra or Shiragi ; Chinese, Sin-lo). About the middle of the seventh century the most important of the three, Silla, founded in 57 a.d. and occupying the south-eastern extremity of the peninsula, absorbed the other two, and a single kingdom was erected under Chinese suzerainty with its capital at Taiku (Japanese, Taikiii). During the ensuing period, roughly contemporary with the T'ang dynasty in China (618-907), under the influence of Buddhism, which was intro- duced into Corea about 372 by the Chinese monk Sun-do, the country reached a high stage of prosperity and civilisation. The art of the period, showing Graeco-Bactrian influences which had 2 INTRODUCTION travelled eastwards from Khotan in Central Asia, can be studied only from the frescoes and sculptures in temples such as the Horiu-ji at Nara and elsewhere in Japan, where they are reve- rently . treasured as memorials of the nation which the Japanese regard as the source in these early days of their own civilisation. In 918 the kingdom of Silla was conquered by the i-evolted province of Korio, the name of which, adopted as that of the entire kingdom, survives in the European name Corea. What is generally known as the Korai dynasty -"^ was established (in 924) by Oang (Wang) the Founder, and the capital was trans- ferred to Songdo ("pine capital"), near the west coast. This dynasty came to an end in 1392 with the revolt of Yi Taijo, founder of the Yi (in Japanese Ri) dynasty, which closed with the Japanese annexation of Corea in 19 10. The name of the kingdom was changed to Chosen (Chinese CKao-hsien^ " morning calm"), the capital was removed to Seoul, and Buddhism was finally suppressed. The country fell completely under the domination of the Ming dynasty of China ; Confucianism displaced Buddhism as the State system of religion, and rapid decline of culture followed. The final extinction of Corean prosperity was brought about at the end of the sixteenth century, when the country was invaded (in 1592) by a Japanese expedition sent by the Taiko Hideyoshi. The war lasted till the death of Hideyoshi in 1598, and in the course of it the peninsula was devastated from end to end. From that time forward until the last quarter of the nineteenth century it was the deliberate policy of the rulers of Corea to cut off their country from all intercourse with the outside world, and to make it, in very truth, a " Hermit Kingdom." The result was national stagnation and the degra- dation of intellectual life in all its forms. With the exception of the few relics preserved in Japan, scarcely anything remains to the present day of the greater arts from the classical period of Corean history, ending with the overthrow of the Korai dynasty in 1 392. Amongst the lesser arts, on the other hand, that of the potter can be studied from a large number of surviving specimens. For this we have to 1 Sometimes also called the Wang dynasty. INTRODUCTION 3 thank the Corean burial customs of the period. As in Europe in pre-Christian times and in ancient China, so in Corea, it was the practice to inter with the bodies of persons of distinction various articles for their use in another world, including vessels with offerings oi food and wine. In Corea such objects were placed in stone chests,^ deposited in the tumulus on either side of the coffin of the deceased. After the change of dynasties, the burial customs were altered, so that " tomb wares " of later date are exceptional. The absence of all signs of wear in the pottery from the tombs, as distinct from occasional decomposition of the glaze due to the effects of burial, may be explained by the use for this honourable purpose of vessels new from the kiln. Such wares are known by the Japanese at the present day as Metki, i.e. "underground ware." ^ THE earliest pottery found in Corea dates from the Neolithic period, and belongs to a type which is distributed over Manchuria and the adjacent parts of the continent as well as in japan and Saghalien. Crude hand-made wares, they have little artistic interest and do not therefore find a place in the Le Blond Collection. During the Silla dynasty (57-918), amongst other appliances of Chinese civilisation, the potter's wheel was first introduced into Corea, and with it numerous Chinese forms of vessels. The first literary reference to Corean pottery is that in the annals of the Northern Chinese Wei dynasty (386-549),^ where the funeral rites of a certain region in Corea are described, and pottery kettles filled with rice are stated to have been hung beside the coffin. The wares of this period, such as Nos. 1-3 (Plate i) in the Collection, are found for the most part in graves near Taiku and Fusan in the extreme south. They closely resemble the early tomb wares of Japan ; whether the likeness is fortuitous or due to the fact that the Japanese wares were made by Corean 1 A chest of this kind is included in the Le Blond Collection. See p. 44, Plates 46-48. 2 Fischer, KK, p. 154. (For abbreviations used in references see note at head of Bibliography, p. vii.) 3 l^ei Shu, cited by Laufer, Ch P H D, p. 128, note. B 2 4 INTRODUCTION potters working in Japan is a matter of dispute.^ The body is hard and resonant, of dark ash-grey hue, the surface devoid of glaze, but close-grained and even ; the shapes, thrown on the wheel and carefully finished, have a simple dignity of outline ; the vessels are sometimes decorated with incised Hues or wavy comb-marks, or with impressions, arranged in horizontal bands, from wooden stamps cut with transverse grooves, circles, or more elaborate devices. Certain of the vessels rest on high cylindrical supports, pierced with triangular or rectangular notches and perforations ; ^ this latter type of vessel is exemplified in the Le Blond Collection by a chafing-dish of hard cinder-grey earthenware (No. 4, Plate 2), covered with a greenish-brown glaze, a piece of uncertain age which, though later than the Silla period, may probably be referred to an early date.^ ALL the best pottery found in Corea dates from the period of the Korai dynasty (924- [392). The finest wares are those excavated from tombs in the neighbourhood of Songdo, where also they were probably made ; that they belong to the period before the transfer of the capital from Songdo to Seoul (about 1392) is indicated by the names '■'■ Kao-li-yao,'' '■'■ Koraiyaki" ("Korai pottery," literally "baking"), by which such wares are known in China and Japan respectively.* They may be generally divided into three classes — (i) those undoubtedly made ' The Japanese give to the Corean monk Giogi (a.d. 670—749) the credit of inventing the potter's wheel, from which it may be inferred that it was first intro- duced to Japan from Corea. ^ It has been suggested by Fenollosa (EChJ A, vol. i. p. 13) that originally the objects in which these perforations occur were intended as cooking vessels, the openings serving as vents for the smoke from the fuel, which was burned within the hollow support. The perforations appear in one of the Silla bowls in the Collection (No. 2, Plate i). ' A similar vessel in the Museum at Seoul is ascribed to the seventh century a.d. This tazza form, of frequent occurrence amongst the unglazed Silla tomb wares, is of Chinese derivation and is known in Chinese as ton. It was used both at banquets and as a sacrificial vessel in ancestor worship, and a tradition relates the introduction of the form (in what material does not appear to be stated) from China into Corea in the twelfth century B.C. ; see Laufer, Ch P, p. 126. * It has sometimes been assumed, probably in error, that fine ware continued to be made until the Japanese invasion of 1592. INTRODUCTION 5 in Corea ; (2) those resembling known Chinese types, and perhaps to be regarded as importations rather than indigenous produc- tions ; and (3) those which may confidently be classified as of undoubted Chinese origin. In the first class, although Chinese influences are almost every- where apparent, a distinctive character is generally recognisable. There are certain technical peculiarities of frequent but not invariable occurrence which are helpful in distinguishing Corean from Chinese and Japanese pottery ; for example, the whole of the base, including the foot-ring, is often" entirely covered with glaze, the rim of the vessel being left unglazed ; little piles of sand, leaving irregular patches of grit adhering to the surface, were used instead of " stilts " or " cockspurs " as supports in the kiln ; the foot-ring (in the early wares) was generally of very slight projection. Certain shapes also are peculiar to Corea, such as the cup on a high foot and its accompanying stand or saucer with a more or less prominent elevation in the middle upon which the cup stands (Nos. 5, 34, 45, Plates 3, 11). For wine- pots, vegetable forms, such as the sprouting bamboo-plant (No. 42, Plate 9), the melon, the gourd, formalised with a skill and judgment which bear witness to the high artistic power of their makers, were much affected by the Corean potter. In general, the Corean wares of this classical period show a dignity and simplicity of form, combined with an exquisite sense alike of right proportion in spacing and of the beauty of subtle curves, which entitle them to a high rank amongst the achievements of the potters of the world. A word may be said as to the uses of the various shapes. By a strange singularity tea-drinking, though practised from early times in China and Japan, was unknown in ancient Corea ; the vessels which might from their form be mistaken for tea-pots were used for pouring out wine, and the small bowls and cups for drinking it. Larger bowls (such as Nos. 28, 37, 49, Plate 7) were perhaps used as' cisterns for small fish. The small neatly-fashioned boxes, circular or octagonal, with flat-topped lid (Plates 3, 23, 24), were made for the writing table to contain vermilion or other pigments for use on seals ; the small bottles of depressed globular 6 INTRODUCTION form (Plates 24, 30) were intended for oil. Tall vases with narrow neck (such as Nos. 73, 106, Frontispiece, Plate 32) were doubtless used, as in China, to hold cut flowers. We learn also from Hsii Ching (a.d. 1125), to whom reference will be made on a later page, that narrow-necked vessels of very large dimen- sions (six feet high by four and a half feet broad) were made for storing fresh water upon sea-going ships, but none of these appears to have survived.^ Amongst the motives of decoration, those drawn from plant life predominate. Sprays of flowers or detached blossoms (the water-lily or lotus, the plum, the peony, the chrysanthemum) ^ are scattered over the surface or preferably set at regular intervals, often enclosed within circular medallions. On some of the earlier wares are seen rows of closely-set discs, with or without enclosed flowers, which are strongly reminiscent of Chinese types of the T'ang dynasty.^ The bamboo, the gourd-vine, the weeping willow and various water-plants are frequently seen, the two latter generally associated with crested mandarin-ducks (as on Nos. 49, 79' 93-95' 138' 139' Plates 23, 27, 44), geese (No. 73, Frontis- piece) or other waterfowl. Cranes flying amongst clouds are also a frequent combination (Nos. j^, jj, 78, Plates 23, 24). A bird with the beak of a parrot and long flowing tail (Nos. 57-59, Plates 15, 16) is, it would seem, a descendant of the "sun-bird" of early Eastern mythology, appearing in later Chinese art as the " phoenix " [feng-huang) adopted as the emblem of the Empress, which, however, shows rather the characteristics of the pheasant.* 1 Bushell, OCA, p. 679. ^ As in a fresco-painting of the T'ang dynasty in the Cave of the Thousand Buddhas near Tun-huang in Chinese Turkestan (Stein, D C, vol. ii. fig. 160 and p. 224), the chrysanthemum of early Corean pottery resembles the common ox-eye daisy {Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) more than the cultivated variety of later Chinese and Japanese art. * Compare Hobson, Ch P P, vol. i. p. 34. * This bird is probably to be identified w^ith the roc of Arabia and the garuda of Brahmanism. The parrot-like form occurs in a relief on the Eastern gateway of the Great Tope at Sanchi (second century B.C.) in India, of which there is a reproduction in the Indian Section of the Museum (see Grijnwedel, B AI, pp. 48, 50, Fig. 26), and on a bronze mirror, a guitar [genkan) of inlaid sandalwood, and two cases to contain pieces for the game of go, all preserved since the eighth century in the Shos5-in at Nara, Japan ; see Toyei Shuko, Plates 10, 42 and 70). INTRODUCTION 7 Fishes amongst waves (Nos. 60, 85, Plates 17, 24) or in pairs (No. 92, Plate 26) are a favourite motive. The human figure is of very rare occurrence, and is apparently found only (as on No. 99, Plates 28, 35) in the motive of boys sporting amongst sprays of lotus. Most of these motives have a symbolical import. The crane, the companion of Shou Lao and emblem of longevity, and the paired fishes, suggesting conjugal felicity, are borrowed from the Taoist lore of China. For the majority the explanation is to be sought in Buddhism, the State religion of Corea until the four- teenth century. Thus the lotus {Nelumbium speciosum), rising unsullied from a bed of mud, is regarded as an emblem of purity and self-creation ; ^ its eight petals, recalling the " Eightfold Path " of Buddhist morality, and the likeness of its expanded flower to the dharmachakra or " Wheel of the Law " gave it additional significance.^ The frequent association of the water- lily with the goose is paralleled in India amongst the sculptures of the Bharhut and Sanchi topes (second century b.c), and conspicuously in the decorative panels of the fresco-paintings in one of the later caves at Ajanta (sixth century a.d.).^ Its prevalence is to be explained by the fact that the Brahman goose \Hansa) or ruddy sheldrake was adopted by the Buddhists from Brahmanism, in which it is sacred as the " vehicle " {vahana) of Brahma,^ and, as emblem of the setting sun, became merged with the mythical Sun-bird or Golden Bird of Dawn, King of the Golden Geese, as a personification of Buddha.^ In modern times the goose as a pattern of conjugal fidelity enjoys a popularity in Corea equal to that of the stork in Northern Europe, and plays a part in the Corean wedding ceremonial. The design of boys amongst lotus-sprays, a favourite in 1 Originally a Brahmanist symbol. 2 See Getty, G N B, p. 172. ^ See GriiBths, CT A, vol. ii. p. 42. Of these paintings there are copies in the Indian Section of the Museum. * A figure of a goose on the top of a high mast is generally to be seen in the precincts of the Buddhist temples of Burma. 5 See Waddell, E B C, p. 140 ; Dh C, p. 166. 8 INTRODUCTION Chinese porcelain down to the present day,i finds its parallel in the decorative putti amongst scrollwork of Italian maiolica, with which in fact it has a common ancestry ; also in the sixth century Ajanta frescoes, mentioned above, closely similar decorative designs are found of boys and lotus-flowers. ^ They occur again in an early painting found by the Pelliot Mission in Chinese Turkestan. 3 These Eastern figures are the Eros or Cupid of Greek art of the Hellenistic period, shorn of his wings (the original also of the Itahan putti), transmitted through the so-called Graeco- Buddhist school of Gandhara in North- West India, a province of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom founded by the successors of Alexander the Great. In the sculptures of this region, dating from the first four or five centuries of the Christian era, we find scenes from the life of Buddha enlivened by little genii carrying garlands, just as in late classical art and its revived form in the Renaissance period in Europe.* Among formal designs used for borders are rows of petals or leaves, a row of Chinese Ju-i " wish-granting " sceptre-heads ^ (Nos. 92, 96, Plates 26, 27), fret-pattern and a motive derived from wickerwork, also much employed in Chinese porcelain. (i) Indigenous Wares THE indigenous Corean wares may best be classified by material and technique ; there are no clues as to the localities in which the various types were made.^ First may be named a beautiful pure white porcelain (Nos. 5-18, Plates 3, 4) with a highly translucent body of granular sugary fracture ; the glaze with which it is covered is soft and transparent, readily scratched, of decidedly bluish tone (suggesting ^ Hobson, ChPP, vol. i. p. 150, speaks of the pattern as "Chinese in origin, but frequently used by the Corean potters " ; probably both uses should be regarded as parallel derivations from a common source. ^ See Griffiths, CT A, vol. i. p. 13 ; vol. ii. p. 42. 3 See Petrucci, P M, p. 213, Plate II g. * See Foucher, A G-B, p. 240 ; Burgess, GSc, Plates 7, 21. ^ For the significance of the ju-i sceptre see Hobson, Ch P P, vol. ii. p. 289. * Unless a local origin may be argued from the fact that all the finest celadon wares are found in the neighbourhood of Songdo. INTRODUCTION 9 the hue of an aquamarine) and full of minute bubbles ; in excep- tional cases it is crackled (Nos. 5, 9, Plate 3). Sometimes the base, sometimes the rim, is left bare of glaze ; the paste where thus uncovered occasionally shows a brownish discoloration on the surface. The shapes are generally enhanced by simple decoration, either rough incised foliage, impressions or combings effected with a corrugated implement, or relief ornament produced by pressing in a mould,- or by modelling in thick slip, or by both methods combined. This type is seen only in cups, dishes, boxes and other objects of small size ; from the character of design in the decoration it may be dated as contemporary with the Sung dynasty in China (960-1279). One of the small boxes in the Collection (No. 6, Plate 3) has the unusual feature of a personal name, CKen Shih-i, inscribed upon it, probably that of the maker rather than the destined owner, as it is moulded in relief beneath the base before firing. Somewhat similar in outward appearance to this type are certain miniature objects (Nos. 19-28, Plate 3), apparently toys, which may perhaps be referred to the same period. The glaze has the same bluish tone ; the paste, however, is much coarser and quite opaque, and the bases of the objects are disfigured with adherent sand upon which they were supported for firing. Other pieces which bear some resemblance to this translucent type of porcelain are Nos. 29-31 (Plate 5). In all these the body though white is coarser and less translucent (in No. 31 absolutely opaque) ; the glaze is of a dull greyish tone, in No. 29 of a greenish cast. It seems probable that these pieces should be referred to a somewhat later period than the very translucent class, BUT the majority of the wares from the graves of the Korai dynasty belong to the class generally known from the colour of its glaze as "celadon " \^ glazes of this colour, a greyish or brownish sea-green of widely varying tone, derived from iron, were of common occurrence wherever porcelain was made in the Far East. 1 The word " celadon " is of French origin, being derived from the name of a character in a seventeenth-century play (based upon UAstree, the romance by Honor6 d'Urf6) who appeared on the stage in a costume of this colour. lo INTRODUCTION There are two main types of Corean celadon. One has a very close and hard opaque porcellanous body of light ash-grey colour with a faint violet cast, generally burnt to red where the surface is exposed ; the body of the second type is a fairly hard but friable brick-red earthenware. The first of these two types, the porcellanous celadon, comprises the most characteristic of all Corean wares, as they are in their finest manifestation the most beautiful. They are referred to in a Chinese work published in 1387, the Ko ku yao lun, "Essential Discus- sions of the Criteria of Antiquities," as resembling the pottery of Lung-ch'iian.^ A still earlier reference is that of a Chinese officer, Hsii Ching, who accompanied an embassy from the Emperor of China to Corea on the occasion of the accession of a new king in the latter country in 1125.^ In his account of this mission Hsii Ching speaks of Corean porcelain as being cKing (green or blue) in colour and prized very highly ; he mentions, amongst other vessels, wine-pots in the form of a gourd, with lotus-leaf cover on the top of which a duck is seated, and incense burners in the shape of, or surmounted by, a lion. Certain porcelains are described as resembling the ancient pise (■' secret colour ") porcelain of Yiieh-chou and the " new porcelain " of Ju-chou in China. This passage has often been quoted as giving the clue to the nature of the last-named Chinese wares. This grey-bodied porcellanous type of ware has a thick semi- transparent celadon glaze varying slightly in translucency and resembling jade in texture, in the finest examples of a soft satiny feeling to the touch. The colour is generally a greyish-blue with a slight greenish tinge, in exceptional cases greenish-brown or approaching mouse grey. The entire base, including the foot- ring, is generally covered by the glaze ; where this is not the case, the exposed surface of the paste has burned to a" reddish-brown colour. Scars, generally three in number, indicate the use of ^ The reference is discussed at length on p. 12 below. Lung-ch'iian, in the province of Chekiang, in China, was celebrated from the time of the Sung dynasty onwards for its manufacture of celadon-glazed porcelain. 2 Bushell, Ch P P, p. 52, note, and OCA, p. 679 ; a variant translation is given in Bosch Reitz, Ch P Sc, p. xxv. INTRODUCTION ii stilts or " cockspurs " as supports in the kiln, though occasionally, as in many coarser Corean wares, piles of sand have served the same purpose (compare Plate 26). Decoration is effected by a variety of methods. The highest level of artistic skill is shown in designs incised with a pointed instrument in the paste or cut out in countersunk relief before the application of the glaze. Projecting reliefs are obtained either by pressing the vessel into a mould, producing clearly perceptible corresponding depressions on the reverse side, or by carefully building up the design on the surface by the application of clay or "slip" in a semi-fluid state ; in these cases details of the design are often added by engraving. A process which is more than any other distinctive of Corean pottery is that of inlaying, generally known by the term applied to it by the Japanese, " mishima." ^ The process apparently originated in China, though it was rarely practised in that country ; a Chinese prototype is known which can be attributed to the T'ang dynasty (618-907), thus probably anticipating any Corean inlaid wares hitherto discovered.^ The details of the design were first impressed with small stamps or incised in the surface of the paste, then filled in with white or greenish- black clay alone or in combination,^ and finally covered with the celadon-green glaze. In rare cases (as No. C. 72— 191 1 in the Museum collection) touches of a dull crimson pigment derived from copper (under the glaze) are added to this colour- scheme. Mishima decoration is often combined with moulded or modelled relief designs. Lastly the celadon ware of this class is sometimes decorated with painting in thick brown and white clays, separately or together, under the glaze. Such painted wares are known in Japan as Yegorai (" painted Corean ") ; they are usually somewhat coarse in quality and perhaps later in date than the finest celadons. 1 Or " mishimade " {mishima pattern). This term, now generally used of all inlaid Corean and Japanese wares, was at first applied to the early Corean wares described below, with inlaid patterns showing a fancied resemblance to the vertically-set ideographs of the almanacs compiled at Mishima in Japan. 2 See Bosch Reitz, Ch P Sc, Catalogue, No. 1 1 . ^ There appears to be a tradition, which must be abandoned on technical grounds, that the inlay is composed of powdered jade. 12 INTRODUCTION The better celadon wares, such as Nos. 42, 48, 56—58, 60-62, 99 (Plates 9, II, 15, 17, 18, 28) in the Le Blond Collection, show great beauty of design and refinement of finish, and may probably be referred to the twelfth or thirteenth century (about the middle of the Chinese Sung dynasty, 960-1279), though the manufacture of an inferior kind would seem to have continued through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Most of the pieces in the Collection may confidently be dated before the fall of the Korai dynasty in 1392. The second type of celadon ware, apparently contemporary with the above and in other respects resembling it, is distinguish- able from it by its friable brick-red earthenware body ; examples of this softer ware in the Collection (Nos. 105-107, Plates 31-33) show both inlaid and painted decoration. EARLIER in date than the true celadon-glazed wares is a class of ware (Nos. 108-111, Plates 24, 34) with opaque hard grey body and inlaid decoration of the mishima type in white only, under a glaze of pearly grey tone, sometimes with a tendency to greenish-brown. It is to this class that the Japanese term mishima was first applied from the resemblance of the concentric rows of small flowers or radial bands to the columns of characters in the Mishima almanac.^ It is probably also to this class that reference is made in the Ko ku yao lun of 1387,^ which states that some of the Corean celadon ware, pale cfiing in colour, was decorated with patterns in white, but that such ware was not highly esteemed.^ It is of all Corean wares the most frequently ^ See footnote, p. 1 1 above. ^ Compare p. lo above. ^ The passage is cited in the T''ao shuo, p. 52 of the translation (^Chinese pottery and porcelain) by Bushell, w^here, however, the Chinese word hua is wrongly rendered in its original specific sense of " flowers " instead of its derivative signification " orna- ment " or " decorative design " of any kind. The same passage of the Ko ku yao lun is evidently the authority for the relevant reference in the paragraph on Corean porce- lain in the T^ao lu, translated by Julicn, P Ch, p. 35 : " Ce sont des porcelaines que I'on fabrique en Coree. J'ignore a quelle dpoque elles ont pris naissance. Elles sont extr^mement minces et leur ^mail ressemble un peu a celui de King-te-tchin [Ching-t^ Ch^n, the great centre of the porcelain industry in China]. II y en a d'un bleu pMe qui ressemblent h. celles de Long thsiouen [Lung-ch'iian, the chief mediaeval seat in China of the manufacture of celadon porcelain] ; ... Si elles sont orn6es de branches INTRODUCTION 3 found in Japan, where, in spite of its somewhat crude character, it is eagerly sought after by collectors. The mishima process was extensively adopted in Japan, and it is said to have been introduced into that country by a Corean carried off thither at the end of the sixteenth century by the victorious armies of Hideyoshi. Inlaid wares somfewhat resembling the Corean were made by this potter and his descendants at Yatsushiro in the province of Higo ; the manufacture has been revived there in recent times. Japanese imitations of Corean mishima ware have also been made in the province of Satsuma. There are two specimens in the Collection, varying from the classes described above but probably contemporary, which may be mentioned here. The dish. No. 112 (Plate 35), has a coarse greyish-white body, hard and unusually heavy in weight, covered with a thick and glassy crackled glaze, transparent, of bright celadon-green hue with a cloudy grey stain. Of another entirely different class is a bowl (No. 1 1 3) distin- guished by its unusually broad foot-ring of shallow projection, on which are four instead of the customary three spur-marks ; the paste is hard, of a reddish colour, the glaze, originally a pale greenish- grey, stained through crazing to a warm buff tone. Certain indigenous Corean wares are not easy to define chronologically. In the Le Blond Collection is a vessel of soft red earthenware covered with a dark brownish olive-green glaze (No. 114, Plate 2) ; its form, with handle fashioned as a long- bodied feline animal, has an archaic appearance, but the crudeness of technique and the quality of the glaze suggest a relatively recent date, perhaps the sixteenth or seventeenth century.^ Another piece of uncertain date is a jar (No. 115, Plate 37) with thin dark de fleurs blanches, elles n'ont dans ce royaume (Cor6e) qu'une valeur mediocre." Here again, as pointed out by Brinkley (J Ch, vol. viii. p. 49), hua is mistranslated branches Je fleurs. In the versions of Bushell and Julien the word rendered "green," bleu, is ch'ing, which may mean either " green " or " blue " indifferently, and could probably be applied correctly to the greyish tone occasionally verging on dull greenish- brown of the glaze characteristic of this class of mishima ware. 1 The twist in the body of the animal is paralleled in the plaited openwork body of the monster forming the arched handle of a Chinese bronze kettle-shaped vessel in the Museum (No. 227-1879) which dates from the Sung dynasty (960-1279). 14 INTRODUCTION greenish-brown glaze ; the body, of hard pale buff-coloured paste, shows analogies of finish with certain Chinese wares of the T'ang dynasty. A similar dark brown glaze, but over a coarse red body, is exhibited by a bowl (No. 1 1 6) also of somewhat uncertain origin and date. (2) Wares of Uncertain Origin WE now pass to the discussion of wares which, although found in Corea, must be regarded as of debatable origin.^ It is certain that from quite early times there was a considerable importation of utensils of all kinds, including pottery, from China, just as recent political developments have brought about an extensive import trade from Japan. The difficulty is in many cases to distinguish between Chinese imported wares and the imitations of them made in Corea itself. The first group to be considered is that of the wares varying in body from coarse earthenware or stoneware to semi-porcelain, covered with a brown glaze derived from iron, and more or less variegated by transmutation in the kiln with markings of intense black, the predecessors of the well-known " dead-leaf brown" and cafe-au-lait glazes of Chinese eighteenth-century porcelain. A clearly defined type of this class is that of the tea-bowls made during the Sung dynasty in the province of Fuchien in China, and hence known as Chien yao (" Chien ware"). Such bowls were much prized by the tea-tasting parties of Sung times, and even more by their later Japanese imitators. They are known in Japan as Temmoku, from the name of the locality in Fuchien in which they were made, viz. Temmoku-zan (Chinese, T^ien-mu-shan), or " Eye-of-Heaven Mountain " ^ ; this was presumably in the neighbourhood either 1 R. Petrucci [Burlington Mag., vol. xxii. p. 82) stands alone amongst recognised authorities in disputing a Corean origin even for the celadon wares already described, with the exception of the coarser varieties, claiming that they are Chinese importations of the fourteenth or early fifteenth century. 2 This explanation of the name is given by a Japanese dictionary entitled Genkai, by Otsuki Fumihike, 1904; the word is used of this particular kind of tea-bowl in much the same way as " ulster " is used in English of a kind of coat originally made in the province of that name. INTRODUCTION 15 of Chien-an or of Chien-yang, the two places in the prefecture of Chien-ning in which the manufacture is recorded to have been successively located.^ Three imported specimens of this Chinese ware are included in the Collection (Nos. 140-142, Plate 37). It is characterised by a hard and unusually heavy granular body of dark purplish-brown colour, and by a thick lustrous glaze in which the black has developed so as to predominate over the brown ; the latter appears in the form of more or less conspicuous streaks or flecks on the sheeny black ground, giving rise to the names " hare's-fur cups " and "partridge cups," by which, from a resemblance to the coat or plumage of these creatures, such bowls are known amongst the Chinese. A glaze of the same composition, but somewhat different in its colour-markings, is found on a class of ware with compact pale bufF-coloured body, lighter in weight than the Chien yao, which appears to have been made, probably as early as the T'ang dynasty (618—907), in the Chinese province of Honan. Ware of almost indistinguishable character is found in Corea (as Nos. 121, 122, in the Collection, Plate 2i7)-> ^^^ i' seems likely that this may be a case of a close resemblance between the productions of a Chinese and a Corean manufactory ; 2 if so, the Corean variety is amongst the earliest ceramic productions of the Korai dynasty (924-1392), if not still older. The glaze of this pale-bodied ware differs from that of the true Temmoku in the less even distribution of the colour ; the brown suffuses the black in more or less irregular mottling. A Corean origin, again perhaps earlier than the tenth century, may safely be postulated for another kindred type (Nos. 119, 120, Plate 37) with greyish-brown body and a soft-looking glaze of the usual dead-leaf brown running down in an uneven wave below a thick upper glaze of dark treacle brown. Lastly, amongst glazes of this group must be named a specimen (No. 1 18, Plate 38) of a very beautiful porcelain of pure white body, thin but not translucent, covered with a glaze of warm brown verging on rust colour and clouded with olive-greenish markings ; the 1 Julien, PCh, p. i8. 2 Compare Fischer, M O K, p. 103, and Hobson, Ch P P, vol. i. p. 133. 1 6 INTRODUCTION technique shows the refinement of finish and the subtle beauty of form which mark the best Chinese wares of the T'ang dynasty. This rare type is known amongst Japanese collectors as Kaki- gusuri, " persimmon-glazed," from its resemblance in colour to that fruit. An exactly similar type does not seem to have been found as yet in China, so that, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, a Corean origin may again be claimed, and a date about the beginning of the Korai dynasty. ^ Before leaving the brown-glazed wares allusion may be made to a " porcelain bowl of the capacity of half a hu {i.e. about three gallons), translucent both inside and outside, of a pure brown colour, half an inch thick, but as light as swan's down," which is recorded 2 to have been given in 841 to the Chinese Emperor Hui Ch'ang by the province of P'o^hai (modern Manchuria), at that time subject to Kao-li {i.e. North-Western Corea). The difficulty of reconciling the large capacity of the vessel with its other recorded qualities suggests caution in the too literal accept- ance of this statement,' but as the Chinese commentator remarks, it is probable that the porcelain of the P'o-hai people was similar to that of their Corean governors, so that this tradition may be taken as evidence for the manufacture of brown-glazed ware in the peninsula as early as the ninth century. Another main group of uncertain origin is that of the white or cream-coloured wares generally classed as " Ting ware," ^ from the name of the chief Chinese centre of their manufacture, Ting-chou, now Cheng-ting Fu, in the province of Chili. The kilns were probably at work there when the Sung dynasty began in 960, and it appears that white ware of similar character was being made in the same part of Chili as early as the T'ang dynasty (before 907). When the capital of the Sung Emperors was removed to the south, in 1126—27, *^^^ '^^i^g manufacture was 1 A bowl, however, which seems from its description to show very similar characteristics, illustrated in colours in Parish- Watson (Ch P, Catalogue No. 132), is there classed as " Chien ware " of the Sung dynasty. - In the Tao shuo (Bushell, Ch P P, p. 102). ^ "Translucent" should evidently be taken as referring to the glaze only, not to the body. * Known in Japan from its colour as torinoko, " egg " ware. INTRODUCTION 17 also transferred, to Ch'ang-nan, now famous by its later name of Ching-te Chen, in Kiangsi. Similar wares known by the generic name of " Ting " were made from the Sung period onwards at many other places in China. Three different kinds of Ting ware are described by Chinese writers, viz. : pai (" white ") 'Ting, a beautiful porcellanous ware, generally more or less translucent, with smooth cream-coloured glaze, fen (" rice-flour ") Ting, with light buff-coloured glaze, and fu (" earthy ") Ttng, with a relatively coarse opaque granular body ; it seems likely that all three varieties were made concurrently, though probably only the fine pai Ting was made before the removal of the manufacture from Ting-chou. Much of the ware was left quite plain. When decoration was added, the processes of engraving and carving in the paste before application of the glaze, pressing into moulds to produce relief designs, and even, it is said, painting were used. The ware with engraved decoration was most highly esteemed. The glaze of Ting ware has often run down or coagulated in thick straw-coloured drops, a defect likened to tear-stains which came to be prized as an enhancement by Chinese connoisseurs and is often to be met with, as on Nos. 131, 133, 136 (Plates 42, 43) in the Le Blond Collection. It has sometimes been argued that the numerous specimens of Ting ware of various classes found in Corean graves were without exception imported from China. The record of Hsii Ching, already cited, refers not only to green ware or celadon as being made in Corea, but also to bowls, cups, platters and other vessels " all closely copying the style and make of Ting ware."i This statement, taken with the large quantities of white ware found,^ is good evidence in favour of a Corean manufacture, although it is not easy to differentiate the indigenous from the imported specimens. Amongst the specimens of Ting ware in the Le Blond Collection the earliest are probably several small circular boxes (Nos. 124, 127, Plate 40) with a body showing a brownish hue where not covered by the minutely-crazed cream-coloured glaze. 1 Bosch Reitz, Ch P Sc, p. xxvi. 2 The Ting ware in Corean tombs is known by the Japanese as Hakugtrai, "white Corean." 1 8 INTRODUCTION These may, perhaps, be dated before the Korai dynasty and are very Ukely indigenous. Of Corean origin, also, may possibly be a small bowl (No. 135, Plate 40) with an exquisite incised lotus- spray, another (No. 134, Plate 42) with rough scorings, and a third with beautiful slip painting (No. 136, Plate 43), all of fine translucent ware with soft creamy glaze. These may be classed either as true Chinese Ting of the " northern " {pat) type made before the removal of the manufacture from Ting-chou southwards in 1 126—27, ^^ ^^^^ ^^ Corean imitations, which may reasonably be expected to have approximated to the " northern " rather than to the later Chinese type. No specimen in the Collection can be identified as belonging to the fen Ting class, but the fu Ting, or " earthy " type, is represented by Nos. 129-132 (Plates 40-42), varying in quality from the charmingly-shaped wine-pot (No. 130, Plate 41) ^ to coarser pieces with thin greyish glaze making no pretensions to fine workmanship. A third group of doubtful wares comprises certain pieces, un- doubtedly of early date, of dense brownish paste with a transparent olive-green celadon glaze full of minute bubbles (Nos. 137-139, Plate 44), having decoration beautifully carved into the surface or produced by pressing in a mould with details afterwards incised. ^ Specimens very similar to these are found in Northern China, ^ so that their place of origin must be regarded as an open question. ^ An almost identical specimen in the collection of the late Mr. William C. Alexander is illustrated in Hobson, Ch P P, vol. i., Plate 24 (where it is erroneously- described as translucent) and in B F A C Ex, Plate xxiii. D. 10. ^ A feature of all three bowls is that the foot-ring has been ground down to afford an even standing base. 2 Compare Hobson, vol. i. p. 85, Plate 18, Fig. i, Bosch Reitz, ChPSc, Catalogue Nos. 276, 277, and B F A C Ex, Plate xxii. K. 50 (a bowl which is ascribed, almost certainly in error, to the Kuan yao class, made first at K'ai-f^ng Fu and later at Hang- chou). Also Fischer, M O K, p. 106, where allusion is made to Chinese bowls found in a grave in the province of Honan. Mr. Hobson (ChPSc, p. 85) mentions a bowl of this ware brought from Japan, now in the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin. He adds " the name Shuko-yaki, by which . . . [the ware] was known in Japan, sheds, no light on the question of its origin." This term is perhaps derived from the name of Shuko, who codified the rules for tea ceremonies in Japan under the patronage of the Shogun Yoshimasa (1443- 1473); see Franks, J P, p. 3. INTRODUCTION 19 The bowl (No. 1 17, Plate 36) represents a rare type of which ^ a few examples dating from the T'ang dynasty (618-907) have been found in China. ^ The technique, used by the potters of Roman times who made " Samian " ware in Northern Italy and the south of France early in the Christian era, and more familiarly in the " agate ware " made by Thomas Whieldon and other Staffordshire potters of the eighteenth century, consists in fashioning the vessels from a blended body produced by kneading together finely divided shreds or lumps of clays of different colours, in this case white and dark brownish-grey. This type is known in Japan as neriage. The bowl in the Collection shows the thin finely-crazed cream-coloured glaze of much T'ang pottery and should probably be classed as an importation from China. (3) Imported Wares ANOTHER class of early imported ware frequently found in Corean graves, and sometimes wrongly described as Corean, is that of the kilns of Tzii-chou, now in the province of Chili, but formerly included in that of Honan, in the north of China. The body is a heavy cream-coloured paste similar to "that of the "earthy," variety of ware made at Ting-chou, which was not far distant from Tzii-chou. The productions of Tzu-chou exhibit a great variety of methods of decoration, but the specimens found in Corea are mostly painted with sketchy but vigorous designs in dark treacly brown ^ over a surface of thick cream-coloured slip, a transparent glaze covering the whole. Sometimes, as in No. 143 (Plate 45) in the Collection, a large part of the surface is covered with a brown glaze of the same colour as the pigment used for the painted decoration. Though the same type of ware has been produced continuously at Tzii-chou until modern 1 Hobson, Ch P P, vol. i. p. 33 ; a grave-pillow of this ware is illustrated in Bosch Reitz, ChPSc, 1916, Catalogue No. 10. A statuette of similar ware illustrated in Parish- Watson, Ch P (Catalogue No. 102), is ascribed to the Tzu-chou kilns of the Sung dynasty. '■^ The statement of Brinkley, J Ch, vol. viii. p. 44, that the brown pigment was obtained from the juice of the persimmon [Diospyros kaki) is for technical reasons quite inadmissible. 20 INTRODUCTION times, the specimens disinterred in Corea may safely be regarded as earlier than the Ming dynasty {i.e. before 1368). Quantities of this ware are found in Japan, where it is erroneously classed, with the brown-painted celadons already described, as Tegorai, " painted Corean " ; it appears to have found favour with Japanese tea-clubs from the time of their wide development in the fifteenth century. It was either imported by way of Corea or by junks touching on their voyage from China at a Corean port, and thus came to be mistaken for a Corean product in precisely the same manner as the Hispano-Moresque lustred ware shipped 'in Majorcan vessels from Valencia to Italy was known in the latter country as " maiolica" or Majorca pottery. BRIEF reference may be made in conclusion to the pottery made in Corea during the period of isolation which followed the Japanese invasion of the sixteenth century. This phase is not represented in the Le Blond Collection, but its character may be judged from specimens in the collection of the Museum. ^ The influence of Chinese porcelain and, in some of the later examples, of the " Imari " ware made at Arita in Hizen, the Japanese province lying nearest to Corea, is strongly apparent ; yet there are characteristics by which the Corean wares are easily distinguished from the productions of the neighbouring empires, and, although their quality is generally poor, their themes of decoration often show an interesting originality of treatment. Certain shapes are also peculiar, as for instance the bulbous bottles with narrow neck contracting upwards and a roll moulding at the mouth, which show a profile quite distinct from that of any Chinese or Japanese forms. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a coarse white porcelain was made, not always translucent, heavy and clumsily finished ; the thick glaze is generally, in unpainted pieces or those decorated iq underglaze cobalt blue,^ of a 1 The Museum collection also includes fine specimens of earlier Corean ware of various classes. ^ This, one of the commonest of ceramic pigments, appears to have been unknown in Corea before the Yi dynasty. INTRODUCTION 21 pronounced greenish-blue tone. A large proportion of the porcelain is " blue and white," the pigment showing a tendency to a dirty greyish tone. The motives of decoration include sprays of peonies, chrysanthemums and other flowers, dragons, roughly drawn landscapes sometimes enlivened with hunting scenes or other figure-subjects, in which the themes of the late Ming porcelain-painters of China are the obvious source of inspiration. Of less frequent occurrence as pigments are a dark underglaze brown derived from iron, which develops in the firing spots of lustrous rusty red, and an underglaze copper red of fiery crimson tone quite distinct from the rouge de ctiivre of the Chinese potters ; a large jar with a bold design of lotus plants. No. C. 131-1913 in the Museum collection, is a striking example of the latter colour. Overglaze enamel colours were also sometimes employed. A distinctive colour-scheme is that in which a dark green enamel is used alone with underglaze blue. Imitations of the Chinese " five-colour " and " four-colour " porcelain of the later Ming emperors are also found, as in a bowl in the Museum (No. C. 664- 19 17) decorated with roughly painted landscapes in panels in vivid iron-red, green of two shades, and yellow over a chick putty- coloured glaze which may be likened to " mutton-fat " jade. A certain degree of skill is shown in some of the porcelain with decoration cut in openwork through the walls. The coarse stonewares and earthenwares with cream-coloured or brown glazes made for domestic use are of no artistic interest. TWO objects accompanying the collection of pottery — a stone chest (Plates 46-48) and a small slate memorial slab — are described in an Appendix. During the Korai dynasty the coffins of deceased persons of importance were buried beneath a mound of earth or tumulus, and on either side of them was laid a chest such as that described in the catalogue, somewhat smaller than the coffin itself, to contain clothing, articles in bronze, and pottery vessels filled with offerings of food and drink. The coffin itself would seem to have been made of wood, as generally in China also from remote times to the present day. As has 22 INTRODUCTION already been stated (p. 3), most of the glazed wares of which the Collection mainly consists were found deposited in chests of this description in tombs. In earlier times the tombs took the form of chambers, constructed of blocks of stone of large dimensions, over which a mound of earth was sometimes thrown up ; unglazed pottery and bronze articles have been found laid upon the floor of these chambers. ^ In this respect the earliest Corean custom corresponds with that of China, where also the offerings are simply placed in the tomb chamber without an enclosing chest of any kind. , Other questions relating to the chest and memorial slab are fully discussed under their descriptions in the catalogue (pp. 44, 45). 1 Compare Chosen Koseii Dzufu, passim, and Chavannes, M K, Figs. 5-16. CATALOGUE PART I.— INDIGENOUS COREAN WARES § I.— POTTERY OF THE SILLA DYNASTY (a.d. 57-918) Hard earthenware with dark ash-grey paste, unglazed. Nos. I J. 1. Vase, six-lobed, undecorated. H. 13J in., D. 7^ in. {see p. 3). (Plate i.) 2. Rice-bowl and Cover, on high foot with two rectangular holes cut through it at opposite sides. On the cover, short bands of chain-pattern radiating from the projecting ring in the middle, produced with a narrow stamp cut with a row of small circles. H. \\ in., D. 5f in. {see p. 4, note). (Plate i.) 3. RiCE-BCWL AND CovER, both decorated with bands of notched tX^ta^ pattern and hook-like devices, above which on the bowl is a row of formal devices, all impressed with small starnps. H. 5J in., D. 6i in. (Plate i.) § II.— EARLY POTTERY OF UNCERTAIN DATE No. ^. Chafing-dish of hard blackish earthenware, covered with a dark olive-green glaze much decomposed by burial. High hollow stem, pierced w,ith sharply-cut rectangular openings in two tiers. Round the bowl on the lower side a row of dotted devices impressed with a notched stamp. H. 7 in., D. 7 in. {see p. 4). (Plate 2.) § III.— POTTERY OF THE KORAI DYNASTY (a.d. 924-1392) A White porcelain, highly translucent, with thick transparent glaze of more or less pronounced bluish tone over a sugary-white 23 24 CATALOGUE paste, sometimes showing a brownish surface where not covered by glaze [see />. 8). [a) Undecorated. Nos. 5, 6. 5. Cup on high foot, and Stand with flat rim, separated by a deep channel from the projection which receives the cup, and high foot-ring. The glaze, which is slightly crazed, runs up inside the foot of both pieces, but leaves the base bare. Cup : H. 2^ in., D. 2| in. ; stand : H. 3 in., D. si '"■ {see p. 5). (Plate 3.) 6. Pigment-box, octagonal, with flat Cover bevelled at the edge, glazed inside and outside except under the base, on which is an inscription moulded in relief (in Chinese, Ch'en Shih-i), perhaps the name of the maker. H. if in., D. 2^ in. (see p. 9). (Plate 3.) (6) With incised or engraved decoration under the glaze. Nos. 7 — I J. 7. Bowl, cone-shaped, with spreading mouth, small foot-ring. Decorated inside by means of a comb with rough scratchings. Base unglazed. H. i£ in., D. 4J in. 8. Bowl similar to No. 7, the comb-scratchings being enclosed by a circle. Glaze discoloured by burial. H. i| in., D. 4f in. (Plate 4.) .9. Bowl, cone-shaped, with slightly rounded sides, small foot-ring. Glaze much crackled, the veins being stained to a reddish hue. Horizontal incised line inside. Base unglazed. H. if in., D. 4.^ in. 10. Shallow Bowl, with small foot-ring ; the rim cut by slight notches into six lobes. Inside, formal flowers and dotted scrollwork. Base unglazed. H. 2 in., D. 6J in. (Plate 38.) 11. Dish with flat bottom and slanting sides. Inside, rough scrolls. Rim unglazed. H. ^ in., D. 3f in. (Plate 4.) 12. Dish, circular, with curved sides, incised underneath with radial lines roughly corresponding with ribs on the upper surface, by which it is divided into six lobes ; narrow lip, indented with six slight notches. The base countersunk and bare of glaze, showing reddish surface. H. i in., D. 4f in. 13. Dish, circular, with flat bottom and slanting sides. In the middle, a spray of plum-blossom. Rim unglazed. H. ^ in., D. ^^ in. (c) With relief d^ecoration. Nos. i^^i8. The method by which this decoration has been effected is not easy to determine with certainty. None of the pieces show INDIGENOUS COREAN WARES 25 unmistakable traces of the use of an intaglio mould. In most cases the reliefs appear to have been applied in white slip, after- wards worked up with a brush or a pointed instrument ; in some cases they may have been produced by graving away the surround- ing surface. The reliefs, being only slightly covered with the glaze, stand out in a light tone contrasting with the darker tone assumed by the glaze where it is thickly pooled in the hollows. 14. Dish, with flat bottom and slanting sides. Inside, two fishes amidst lotus- flowers within a row of overlapping lotus-petals below a border of key-pattern. Rim unglazed. H. f in., D. 4 in. {see p. 7). (Plate 4.) 15. Pigment-box and Cover. Formal chrysanthemum design. The glaze on the box ends in an irregular line round the sides, leaving bare the base ; both box and cover partially glazed inside. H. if in., D. 2^ in. (Plate 3.) 16. Pigment-box and Cover. On the cover, a branch with spotted peach-shaped fruit and feathery leaves. Inside of box and cover partially glazed, base unglazed. H. ij in., D. 2 in. (Plate 3.) 17. Pigment-box and Cover of the same form as No. 16. On the cover, a spray with a six-petalled flower. Sides of box and cover fluted. Inside of both partially glazed, base unglazed. H. i in., D. if in. 18. Bowl with rounded sides and small foot-ring. Inside, on the bottom, a single plum-blossom in relief; glaze of pronounced bluish tone covering the entire surface, including the base and foot-ring, with the exception of a band round the mouth. H. i| in., D.*3f in. B Miniature pieces, apparently intended for toys. Nos. ip — 2S. These are of white porcellanous ware, thick, relatively coarse, and non-translucent, with uneven bluish glaze similar to that of the preceding class. Traces of the sandy grit upon which they were supported in the kiln adhere to most of them. The base of all is flat, without projecting foot- ring. 19. Vase. H. 2 in., D. if in. (Plate 3.) 20. Rice-bowl with fixed Cover. H. 2 in., D. if in. (Plate 3.) 21. Bowl, cylindrical, the sides furrowed with horizontal wheel-marks. H. i\ in., D. i| in. 26 ' CATALOGUE 22. Cup, conical, with broad base. H. | in., D. if in. 23. Cup, similar to No. 22. H. | in., D. if in. 24. Saucer, with slightly sunk middle, on foot. H. ^ in., D. 1 1 in. 25. Saucer, similar to No. 24. H. | in., D. i^ in. 26. Plate with slightly sunk middle and broad base. H. f in., D. 2 in. 27. Shallow Bowl with slightly outcurved rim. H. i in., D. 2| in. 28. FiSH-BoWL with low rounded sides curving inward at the rim. The glaze grey, without the bluish tone of the pieces described above. H. f in., D. if in. Early Korai porcelain of uncertain date. Nos. 2g — ji. 29. Dish, circular, with curved expanding sides and small foot-ring. An incised circle in the middle and another half an inch from the rim, Rim unglazed, base glazed. Slightly translucent. H. i| in., D. 6J in. 30. Bowl. Rounded sides outcurving at the mouth, high foot-ring. The interior decorated by means of a comb with scratches representing water. Base unglazed. Slightly translucent. H. 3-^^ in., D. (i\ in. (Plate 5.) 31. Dish, with small foot-ring ; the rim ten-lobed, a small boss in the centre, from which radiate incised curved lines forming compartments filled with rough scroll- work. Glaze of greyish tone. Base unglazed. Oplaque. H. if in., D. b\ in. (Plate 5.) D (i) PoRCELLANOus CELADONS With heavy, hard ash-grey body, reddish on the surface where exposed, and quite opaque, even where the walls are thin, covered with a thick jade-like glaze varying in tone from the bluish-green of the majority to greenish- brown or grey. In some cases the glaze is much more translucent and fluid in appearance than in others [see p. 10). [a) Undecorated. Nos. J2—jp. 32. WiNE-POT, WITH Cover in the form of a shallow bowl with pillar-like knob rising in the middle and loop for attachment of a cord corresponding with another loop on the handle. Eight-sided spout, flat base partially glazed. H. 9I in., D. 9I in. (Plate 6.) INDIGENOUS COREAN WARES 27 It is perhaps by no accidental coincidence that the shape nearly resembles that of the bronze tea-pots used for the tea-drinking ritual in Buddhist monasteries in Tibet to the present day ; in China, on the other hand, it does not appear to occur. 33. WiNE-POT, WITH Cover fitting down over the short tubular neck and drilled with two holes for a cord of attachment. Eight-sided spout, broad reeded handle ; slightly hollow base with several spur-marks. H. 9 in., D. 7J in. (Plate 7.) 34. Cup and Stand. Cup with rounded bowl divided by vertical lines running down from notches in the rim into six slight lobes ; high foot. Stand similar in general form to that of No. 5, with six slight notches in the rim. Cup : H. 2| in., D. 3:^ in. ; stand : H. 2 in., D. 6 in. (see p. 5). 35. Oil-bottle of flattened globular form, with short narrow neck and cup-shaped mouth. Base glazed only in the middle, three sand spur-marks on the foot-ring. H. 2I in., D. 3"^ in. 36. Oil-bottle, similar in form to No. 35. Sand-marks on the base, the glaze slightly discoloured by burial. H. if in., D. 3^ in. 37. FisH-BowL with broad base and low rounded sides curving inwards at the rim. Under the base, a heavy patch of glaze within an unglazed circle. Ten spur- marks on the foot-ring ; firing scars on the sides. H. 2f in., D. 9 in. {see p. 5). 38. Bowl, hemispherical, with small foot-ring within which are three spur-marks. The glaze externally corroded by burial. H. 3 in., D. 7^ in. 39. Bowl, cone-shaped, with small foot-ring within which are three spur-marks. Slightly distorted in firing. H. 2^ in., D. 6|^ in. (S) With incised or carved decoration under the glaze. Nos. 4.0 — 6^. 40. Vase with fluted body, scalloped line incised round the shoulder. Glaze shading downwards from greenish-brown to greyish-green. Base unglazed, with sand- marks. H. \o\ in., D. 6 in. (Plate 6.) 41. Bottle, with small ring projecting from the neck, probably for a cord to fasten a cover or stopper now missing. Round the neck, sceptre-head ornament (in Chinese ju-i) ; below, three lotus-plants above a border of overlapping leaves. Base only partly glazed, with sand-marks. Lower part of body discoloured by burial. H. i2f in., D. 5| in. (Plate 8.) 42. WiNE-POT AND Cover in the form of a sprouting bamboo. On the top of the handle, three small leaves from which rose a loop (now missing) for a cord, corresponding with another loop on the cover. On the base, just within the unglazed foot-ring, six sandy spur-marks. H. 10 in., W. 10 in. (see pp. 5, 12). (Plate 9.) 43. Wine-jug with reeded handle ; spout restored at the tip with gilt lacquer. A deeply-incised palmette on either side. Sand-marks on base. H. 8| in., D. 7 in. (Plate 10.) 28 CATALOGUE 44. Bottle with barrel-shaped body, flat unglazed base, narrow concave neck and spreading mouth. On the body, a very delicate design of lotus-flowers and foliage faintly discernible beneath the somewhat opaque glaze, which on one side is completely destroyed, leaving the paste bare, owing probably to the effects of water entering the tomb. H. 7J in., D. 4.^ in. The body of this piece is noticeably less heavy for its size than the average. 45. Cup and Stand. The cup undecorated, the stand incised with a delicate pattern of radial lotus-petals surrounding the central boss, and with lines bordering the five Ju-i shaped feet, one of which is missing. Four spur-marks underneath the stand, three on the foot of the cup. Cup : H. 2j in., D. 2I '"• j stand : H. 2 in., D. 3I in. [seep. 5). (Plate ii.) 46. Cup and Stand, eight-lobed. Outside the cup, lotus-sprays ; on the saucer, pendant petals carved round the socket, cloud forms on the rim. Three spur- marks within the foot of the stand. Cup : H. 2^ in., D. 2.| in. ; stand : H. 2 in., D. 5 in. (Plate 12.) 47. Cup with narrow border of key-pattern round the rim outside. Base partly unglazed, with sand-marks. Glaze on one side discoloured by immersion. H. 2 in., D. 3 in. (Plate ii.) 48. Cup. Outside, roughly-drawn chrysanthemums ; inside, a single plum-blossom in the midst of a wicker-like pattern probably intended to symbolise waves. Three spur-marks of sand on the unglazed foot-ring. The interior pattern seems to have some relation to the design well known on Chinese porcelain of the Ming dynasty, of plum-blossoms floating on a torrent. H. 2| in., D. 3I in. (see p. 12). (Plate ii.) 49. FisH-BowL with design outside of a group of willows and other aquatic plants growing out of water, separated by two pairs of crested birds swimming (probably mandarin ducks) from a group apparently of lotus-plants ; sceptre-head (in Chinese ju-i) ornament round the mouth. Base heavily glazed except a bare circle within the foot-ring, which is also unglazed and shows seven spur- marks. H. 4| in., D. io| in. {see pp. 5,6). (Plate 7.) 50. Vessel, probably a spittoon, with three sprays of tree-peony inside and two groups of foliage on the lower part outside. Traces of spur-marks on the foot-ring. Broken aijd mended with gilt lacquer. H. 4 in., D. 7f in. (Plate 13.) 5 1 . Bowl with high rounded sides, flat slightly projecting rim, and outspreading foot- ring. Outside, six sprays of flowers and, round the top and foot, a narrow border of key-pattern ; a large group of flowers and foliage within a medallion inside on the bottom. Four spur-marks in the middle of the base and six near the foot- ring. Slightly misshapen in the kiln. Cracked and mended with gilt lacquer. H. 3i in., D. 6J in. 52. Bowl, shallow, with slightly rounded sides, distorted in firing, and small foot- ring. Inside, a net-like wave pattern. H. i^ in., D. 6i in. 53. Bowl, cone-shaped, with small foot-ring ; plain except for an incised horizontal line below the rim inside. H. if in., D. 5^ in. INDIGENOUS COREAN WARES 29 54. Bowl, divided by deeply-scored fluting into six lobes, with horizontal line incised below the rim inside. Sand-marks within the foot-ring. H. 2 in., D. 5 in. (Plate 19.) 55. Bowl with slight external vertical fluting traversed by a deeply cut pattern of overlapping lotus-petals. On the base, three spur-marks surrounding a small impressed circle. Cracked and mended with gilt lacquer. H. 3 in., D. 6^ in. (Plate 14.) 56. Bowl similar in form and decoration to No. 55, but of finer quality and lacking the impressed circle under the base. The pattern less deeply cut and the glaze of bluer tone. H. 3 in., D. 6 J in. {see p. 12). 57. Bowl of extraordinarily fine quality, with rounded sides and small foot-ring. Decorated inside with a delicately engraved design of three birds with parrots' heads and long wavy tails flying amongst clouds ; on the bottom, a group of flowers. Four spur-marks on the base. H. 3|- in., D. 6f in. {see pp. 6, 12). 58. Bowl similar in form and decoration to No. 57, but less finely executed ; the rim slightly out-turned. Above each bird is a small flower, below it a cloud. Three large spur-marks on the base, and a flaw in which the glaze has developed the colour of the iridescent "dead-leaf " brown of the Chinese, fi. 3^ in., D. 6| in. (Plate 15.) 59. Shallow Bowl, decorated inside with birds similar to those on No. 57. Three spur-marks on base. The glaze slightly decomposed by burial. H. 2^ in., T>.^\n.{see p.b). (Plate 16.) The body is unusually heavy. A portion has been broken from the side of the bowl and somewhat clumsily refixed by luting at the time of manufacture, before the bowl was glazed. 60. Bowl, shallow, with design inside similar to that on No. 52, with the addition of three fishes swimming amongst the waves. Three spur-marks on the base. Of very fine quality. Broken and mended with gilt lacquer. H. z\ in., D. 6|- in. {see pp. 7, 12). (Plate 17.) 61. Bowl with floral design inside. The glaze of unusual dark olive-green tone. Four spur-marks on the base and foot-ring, which is nearly bare of glaze. H. 3 in., D. 7|in. (Plate i8.) 62. Saucer in the shape of a shallow bowl, with design inside of formal flowers within a medallion. Small foot-ring, on which are three spur-marks. Chipped and restored in gilt lacquer. H. i^ in., D. 6 in. - (Plate ii.) 63. Pigment-box and Cover, circular, glazed inside and outside. The flat top of the cover, decorated with a floral spray, is enclosed by a convex moulding on which is a pattern of delicate scrollwork. Four sand-marks on the base. H. i\ in., D. 2| in. 64. Bowl with rounded sides and high spreading foot-ring. The outside indented with five short vertical lines so as to produce perceptible corresponding ribs on 30 CATALOGUE the interior, which is further decorated with a circle incised on the bottom. Four sand-marks on the foot-ring. H. 3I in., D. 6^ in. The material and technique are coarser than those of the remaining pieces of this section, indicating probably a different place of origin and possibly a later date. The glaze is of pronouncedly green tone. {c) With decoration in relief produced by forming on a mould. The depressions caused on the reverse side of the vessels by pressing them into the hollows of the mould are distinctly perceptible. Ms. 65—68. 65. Bowl. Inside, flowers in relief below an incised line. Three spur-marks on the base within the small foot-ring. H. 3 in., D. ']\ in. (Plate 19.) 66. Bowl. Inside, formalised pomegranate-flowers and foliage. The glaze slightly decomposed by burial. Three spur-marks on the base within the sniall foot-ring. H. 2| in., D. 7^ in. (Plate 20.) 67. Bowl, cone-shaped. Inside, relief design of tree-peonies much blurred in the process of removal from the mould ; sand-marks on the base within the small foot-ring. H. 2^ in., D. 6 in. (Plate 21.) 68. Bowl. Inside, four small floral sprays in blurred relief round a central eight- petalled flower. The bluish-green glaze has developed at one point a large blotch of dark brownish-green ; on the outside much of the glaze has perished through burial. Sand-marks on the foot-ring. H. z\ in., D. 6 in. (Plate 36.) It is difBcult to determine with certaii>ty, particularly in the case of the central flower, whether the reliefs have been produced by moulding or by the slip process described in § /; below (p. 34). {d) With decoration in relief, moulded as in the last Section, with the addition of incised details. No. 6g. 69. Shallow Bowl with spreading sides. Inside, a large conventional lotus in relief outlined and supplemented by incised lines. Six radial lines are deeply incised on the outside, corresponding with notches which divide the rim into lobes, and producing ribs which traverse the relief decoration on the interior. Three spur- marks on the base within the small foot-ring. The crazing of the glaze stained brown with burial. H. 2} in., D. 7f in. (Plate 21). . {e) With mishima decoration, inlaid under the glaze in white. Nos. JO — 72. 70. Bowl with curving sides and small foot-ring. Inside, branches of spotted fruit below a scroll border. Outside, two horizontal lines just below the rim. Foot partially bare of glaze. Three spur-marks within the small foot-ring. H. 3^ in., D. 7| in. (Plate 22.) INDIGENOUS COREAN WARES 31 71. Pigment-box and Cover. On the cover, a chrysanthemum spray within three concentric zones separated one from another by pairs of lines with tin) dots between them, the zones filled respectiv.ely with (i) chrysanthemum sprays, (2) detached chrysanthemums, alternately enclosed within circles, (3) small circles ; a key-pattern border outside all, and again, with chrysanthemum sprays at equal intervals below it, round the edge of the box. Three spur-marks within the slightly-projecting foot-ring. Glaze partly decomposed. H. ij\ in., D. 2I in. (Plate 24.) 72. Shallow Bowl with curving sides, small foot-ring and deeply sunk base. Inside, three formal rayed single flowers equally spaced between a double horizontal line and a central double circle. The glaze slightly decomposed by burial. Sand- marks on the base and foot-ring. H. 2^ in., D. 7f in. (y) With mishima decoration inlaid under the glaze in white and dark, greenish-brown or black. Nos. 73-95. 73. Vase, decorated with a goose and two lotus-flowers with leaves. Mouth restored in gilt lacquer. Base glazed. P'ive large spur-marks within the foot-ring. H. 12 in., D. 7;^ in. {see p. 6). (Frontispiece.) 74. Cup with key-pattern border and four single chrysanthemum-flowers at equal intervals. Three spur-marks on foot-ring, which is only partially covered with glaze. Repaired with gilt lacquer. H. 3f in., D. 3I in. (Plate 22.) 75. Oil-bottle decorated with four cranes flying at equal intervals amongst a diaper of clouds. Round the foot a b'ordflr of ■ lotus-petals. Three spur-marks on foot- ring. Glaze partly destroyed by burial. H. 2\ in., D. 3I in. (see p. 6). (Plate 24.) 76. Pigment-box and Cover. On the cover, a circle intersected by four arcs, with a chrysanthemum and leaves in each of the five compartments so formed ; beyond the circle four incised devices (without inlay) at equal intervals. Three spur-marks on the base. H. i^ in., D. 3f in. (Plate 23.) 77. Pigment-box and Cover. On the cover, a flower within a double circle surrounded by three cranes flying amongst clouds ; a lotus-petal border on the bevel. Key-pattern round the sides. Three spur-marks on the base. H. i| in., D. T,\ in. (Plate 23.) 78. Pigment-box and Cover. In the middle of the cover are two cranes flying within a double circle, beyond which is a zone bordered by dots with four other cranes at equal intervals amongst clouds. Key-pattern. borders, and on the lower part of the box a row of dots in circles. Only one apparent spur-mark on the foot-ring, which is only partly covered with glaze. H. 2 in., D. 2| in. (Plate 24.) 32 CATALOGUE 79. Small Dish. Inside on the bottom, a chrysanthemum within a double circle surrounded by four cranes flying amidst clouds ; round the sides, four pairs of ducks swimming, at equal intervals, with growing reeds between. Outside, four* chrysanthemums alternating with butterflies, with borders of fret-pattern above and circles below. Three spur-marks within the foot-ring. H. i^ in., D. 4 in. (Plate 23.) 80. Small Dish with flat bottom, without foot- ring. Inside, a central flower in a double circle, on the sides, six similar flowers. A border of fret-pattern round the outside. Five spur-marks on the base. H. i^ in., D. 4.^ in. (Plate 24.) 81. Small Dish similar to No. 80, with only three spur-marks. H. i^ in., D. 4I in. 82. Small Dish similar to No. 81. H. i J in., D. 4^^ in. 83. Small Dish similar in form and decoration to No. 80, except in having only five flowers round the side and three spur-marks. H. i^ in., D. 4 in. 84. Small Dish identical in form and decoration with No. 83. H. i^ in., D. 4 in. 85. Dish with low curving sides and small foot-ring. Inside are two characters, indicating the sixth year of a cycle, in black ; beyond, two fishes in water, conventionally rendered. Outside, four chrysanthemums, each in the middle of an oblong panel. H. i| in., D. 5 J in. [see p. 7). (Plate 24.) 86. Dish with fluted sides. Inside, on the bottom, a single chrysanthemum flower within a double circle enclosed by a row of ju-i sceptre-head devices ; outside, vertical panels enclosing each three small flowers. Three spur-marks within the foot-ring. H. if in., D. 3^ in. (Plate 24.) 87. Bowl with curving sides and small foot-ring. Inside, flowers of conventional lotus type, each in a double circle below a scroll border ; outside, two horizontal lines. Three spur-marks within the foot-ring. H. 3 in., D. 7I in. (Plate 25.) 88. Bowl of the same form as No. 87, with similar design inside, except in the character of the flowers, which suggest plum-blossom ; a tiny chrysanthemum flower in the centre. Outside, four chrysanthemum sprays at equal intervals below horizontal lines. The glaze has for the most part turned to a brownish- green tone. Three spur-marks within ^he foot-ring. H. 3^^ in., D. jf in. (Plate 25.) 89. Bowl, shallow, with curved sides and small foot-ring. Inside, four chrysanthe- mum sprays set at equal intervals around a central single chrysanthemum, each within a double circle ; below the rim, a border composed of a continuous foliated stem between horizontal lines. Two horizontal lines outside. Three spur-marks within the foot-ring. H. 2 in., D. 7I in. 90. Bowl of the same form as No. 87. Inside, in white only, set at equal intervals round the sides below a narrow formal border, four sprays, each with five spotted fruit. Outside, at equal intervals, with a double horizontal line above and below, four chrysanthemums, in white with black foliage, each within a double circle. Three spur-marks within the foot-ring. H. 3^^ in., D. 8 in. INDIGENOUS COREAN WARES 33 91. Bowl similar in form to No. 89, the decoration the same as that of No. 90, with the exception that the sprays bear each th«e fruit only, and with the addition, inside, of a chrysanthemum within a double circle in the middle, and outside, of four chrysanthemums below the lower horizontal double line, set quarterly below the intervals between the chrysanthemums of the upper range. Three spur- marks within the. foot-ring. This bowl is. exceptional in being almost bare of glaze under the base and foot-ring. H. 2| in., D. 6| in. 92. Bowl similar in form to No. 90. Inside, pairs of fishes, in four medallions on the sides and within a ju-i head border in the middle. Outside, four chrysanthe- mum sprays, each within a double circle, set quarterly above a row of vertical petals recalling the egg-and-dart of classical art. The glaze on the interior is of strong brownish tone. Three spur-marks within the foot-ring. H. 3^ in., D. 8 in. {see p. 7). (Plate 26.) 93. Bowl, twisted in firing. Inside, below a narrow border of hatched lines simulating wickerwork, is a composition of ducks, willows, and reeds similar to that of No. 95, but differently treated ; in the centre two characters, as on No. 85, within a border of radial lotus-petals. Outside, chrysanthemums in circles between borders, of wickerwork and lotus-petals. Sand-marks within the foot- ring. The glaze on the outside mostly destroyed by burial. H. 2^ in., D. 7 in. {see p. 6). (Plate 26.) 94. Bowl of the same form as No. 93, with identical decoration, except that pairs of ducks take the place of single ducks on the inside ; the details are varied in execution. Much of the glaze on the exterior has been destroyed by burial. H. 3| in., D. 7J in. 95. Bowl, with small foot-ring. Inside, a frieze of weeping willows, reeds, and swimming ducks, all highly conventionalised, above ju-i head devices. Outside, two Jouble horizontal lines.' Sand-marks within foot-ring. H. 2\ in., D. 7 J in. {seep. 6). . (Plate 27.) is) With mishtma decoration in white, combined with reHef decoration produced by pressing in a mould. Nos. p6 — ^S. 96. 97. Two Dishes from the same mould and identical in decoration ; with high foot-ring, fluted vertical sides, and flat rim. Inside, fruit and leaves within ju-i sceptre-heads, in- relief ; outside, a row of formal floral sprays, inlaid, separated by incised vertical notches. Three spur-marks within the foot-ring. The glaze on No. 97 is shaded from geeenish-blue to olive-green, being partially decomposed by burial. H. i| in., D. 5I in. (Plate 16.) 98. Dish, octagonal, with slanting sides. Inside, a wreath in the middle and flowers in panels round the sides in relief, only faintly perceptible under the thick glaze. Outside, chrysanthemums in panels, inlaid. H. 1 1 in., D. 4I in. (Plate 24.) In this case it is difficult to make certain whether the reliefs are produced with a mould or by painting in slip under the glaze. D 34 CATALOGUE {h) With relief decoration produced by painting in white slip, combined with inlaid decoration in white, all under the glaze. No. gg. 99. Bowl, with interior relief design in slip of three little boys sporting amongst formal lotus-flowers and foliage below an inlaid scroll border ; a lotus-flower in relief at the bottom. ^ Three spur-marks within the foot-ring, which is glazed. H. 2f in., D. 7^ in. (see pp. 7, 12). (Plates 28, 35.) (/) Painted under the glaze {Tegorai) in brown only [see p. 11). Nos. 100 — loj. 100. Wine-pot and Cover, eight-lobed ; reeded handle with a small loop for a cord corresponding with a similar loop on the cover. On each alternate lobe is painted a spray of foliage. Base thinly glazed. H, 'j\ in., D. 8 in. (Plate 29.) loi. Oil-bottle, painted with two leafy sprays. Spur-marks on foot-ring. H. 3 in., D. 3^ in. (Plate 30.) 102. Oil-bottle,, painted with -three leafy sprays. Sand-marks within foot-ring. H. 3 in., D. 2| in. (Plate 30.) 103. Oil-bottle similar in form and decoration to No. 102. A scroll painted on the base. Spur-marks on foot-ring, which is partly glazed. H. 2\ in., D. 2^ in. {j) Painted under the glaze {Tegorai) in brown and white slip. No. 104. 104. Dish with slanting sides, with detached plum-blossoms thickly painted in perceptible relief, four inside, three outside. Sand-marks on foot-ring. H. if in., D. 4I in. (Plate 30.) (ii) Celadons with coarse red earthenware body, covered with a thin crackled glaze, generally opaque, ranging from greenish-grey to greenish-bufF (je"^ ^. 12). {a) With inlaid mishima decoration in white clay. No. loj. 105. Jar with band of leafy scrollwork below a row of lotus-petals. Glaze decomposed in places. Base partially glazed. H. 8f in., D. 9J in. (Plate 31.) INDIGENOUS COREAN WARES 35 {b) With decoration painted under the glaze [Tegorat) in thick dark greenish-brown slip. Nos. 106 — 107. 106. Vase, with three conventional pomegranate sprays on the body and wavy petal- like design round the shoulder. Base unglazed. H. ii^ in., D. b\ in. {see p. 6). The body is noticeably light in weight. (Plate 32.) 107. Vase, with two sprays of scrolled foliage. Base unglazed. H. lof in., D. 6^ in. (Plate 33.) E Early stoneware with opaque body and pearl-grey glaze border- ing on celadon, over inlaid mishima decoration in white clay {see p. iz). Nos. 108 — III. 108. Bowl, inlaid inside with a conventional chrysanthemum enclosed by zones of closely-set flowers ; outside, horizontal lines confining a similar zone of flowers, two deep. Foot-ring unglazed. H 3^ in., D. 6| in. (Plate 34.) 109. Dish, with small foot-ring and vertical sides. Inside, a chrysanthemum within zones of closely-set flowers. Outside, four horizontal lines. Base unglazed, with three spur-marks on the foot-ring. H. ij in., D. if\ in. (Plate 24.) 1 10. Dish, with foot-ring and curving sides. Inside, a chrysanthemum with a cross in its centre within a zone of closely-set flowers. Base unglazed. A fragment of the support used in the kiln adheres to the foot-ring. H. i^ in., D. 4! in. (Plate 24.) 111. Dish, circular, with small foot-ring and curving sides. In the centre, an inlaid spiral. Glaze impaired by burial. Base unglazed. H. 1;^ in., D. 4 in. Heavy white porcelain of coarse body, non-translucent, covered with a crackled, very thick, translucent glassy glaze of bright celadon-green colour {see p. 13). No. 112. 112. Dish, circular, on medium-sized broad foot-ring, within which the base, which is transversely furrowed, is unglazed, showing a greyish-white surface. The glaze has run down in thick drops only partially covering the outside of the foot- ring. H. i\ in., D. 6| in. (Plate 35.) D 2 36 CATALOGUE G Hard ware, with reddish body, covered with a crazed greenish- grey glaze, without decoration (see p. 13). No. iij. 113. Bowl, cone-shaped, with small base and broad flat foot-ring nearly bare of glaze, on which are four spur-marks. H. %\ in., D. ()\ in. H Brown-glazed wares of indeterminate date {see p. 13). Nos. 11^ — 116. 114. Urinal, soft red earthenware, covered with a very thick transparent blackish olive-green glaze. Handle in the form of a long- tailed animal standing astride the vessel and biting the rim of the spout. The top of the vessel incised with horizontal rings, the base only partly covered with glaze. H. 6 in., D. 7J in. {seep. 13). (Plate 2.) This may be compared with early Chinese vessels of similar use and form figured by Laufer, Ch PHD, pi. xxvi. 115. Jar, hard greyish-buff earthenware, covered inside and partially outside with a dark greenish-brown glaze, which stops short in an irregular line, leaving the base bare. H. 3^ in., D. 5 in. [see p. 13). (Plate 37.) 116. Bowl, hard' red earthenware, covered inside and partly outside with a thick dark greenish-brown glaze, stopping short in a wavy line so as to leave bare the lower half and base. Shallow foot-ring. H. \\ in., D. 4f in. {see p. 14). PART II.— WARES OF UNCERTAIN ORIGIN, COREAN OR CHINESE § I.—" MARBLED " WARE The body is fashioned from a mass composed of shreds of dark and light clay pressed together. Known in Japan as neriage (see p. 19). iV». iiy. 117. Bowl with flat base. Composed entirely of grey and white marbled ware except for a band of plain white round the top. Covered with a cream-coloured glaze, minutely crazed, which has been partially destroyed on the outside by burial. H. i\ in., D. 5 in. (Plate 36.) § II.— BROWN-GLAZED WARES Akin to the Chinese type known in Japan as temmoku. A White porcelain with lustrous warm brown glaze clouded with purple and dark olive-green, known in Japan as kakigusuri, probably dating from the period of the Chinese T'ang dynasty (618—907) {see p. 15). No. 118. 118. Shallow Bowl with small foot-ring, with Stand having a convex socket, projecting rim, and high cylindrical foot-ring. The glaze partially destroyed by burial. The foot-ring of both pieces unglazed. Bowl : H. i J in., D. 4^ in. ; stand : H. 2| in., D. 4^ in. (Plates 37, 38.) B Ware with greyish-brown body and " dead-leaf " brown glaze partly covered with an upper glaze of dark treacle-brown {see p. 15). Nos. 11^^ 120. 119. Bowl with small foot-ring. Dark brown glaze covering the inside and the upper part outside ; light brown glaze below, ending in an irregular line, leaving 37 38 CATALOGUE the foot and base bare. The unglazed part shows marks of a sharp instrument with which the bowl has been shaped off by hand. H. if in., D. 4f in. ' (Plate 37.) 120. Bowl with high foot, below which there is a shallow depression. Similar in extent and colour of glaze to No. 119. H. if in., D. 4J in. (Plate 37.) Ware with pale buff-coloured body and lustrous black and brown mottled glaze {see p. 15). Nos. 121, 122. 121. Bottle with wide unglazed foot-ring. Glaze black, running down in cloudy streaks over brown. Mouth filed down. H. 6 in., D. 5 in. (Plate 37.) 122. Bowl with slightly curving sides, expanding mouth, and small foot-ring. Glaze lustrous brown, mottled inside with black so as to resemble a tiger's skin ; outside, it stops short in an irregular wavy line, leaving bare the foot. Sand- marks on foot-ring. H. if in., D. 4I in. (Plate 37.) § III.— UNCLASSED EARLY WHITE WARE No. I2J. 123. Bowl of thin cream-coloured porcellanous ware, with slightly curved sides and small deep foot-ring. Traces remain of a finely-crackled glaze which appears originally to have been of a slightly bluish tone, but is now stained with brown. The rim is mounted with a modern silver band. H. 2^ in., D. b\ in. (Plate 39.) It is said that the bowl has passed through a fire since its manufacture ; the bubbling of the glaze in the inside suggests this. The technique points to an early date, perhaps contemporary with the Chinese T'ang dynasty (618-907) ; the body differs essentially from the various types of Ting ware {see p. 16). I IV.— WHITE PORCELAIN Analogous with Chinese Ting ware (see p. 16). A With white opaque body, brownish on the surface where not covered with a minutely-crazed cream-coloured glaze, undecorated ; perhaps earlier than the Korai dynasty [see p. 17). WARES OF UNCERTAIN ORIGIN ^9 Nos. 12^ — i2y. 124. Pigment-box and Cover. H. i in., D. 2 in. (Plate 40.) 125. Pigment-box and Cover, similar to No. 124. H. i in., D. 2 in. 126. Pigment-box anq Cover. H. \\ in., D. if in. (Plate 40.) 127. Pigment-box and Cover, similar to No. 126. H. \\ in., D. i| in. B Heavy opaque body, brownish on the surface where exposed, with dead white glaze, perhaps pre-Korai. No. 128. 128. Box AND Cover with applied button on the tdp, from which radiate six incised lines carried down the sides to the base, which is bare of glaze and slightly •concave. There is a short incised mark carried across from the box to the cover where they join to indicate how they should be fitted together. H. 3I in., D. i\ in. (Plate 40.) Ware with opaque or only slightly translucent body, of the "earthy" type known in China as /'« Ting {see p. 18). [a) Undecorated. No. i2g. 129. Bowl with rounded sides and small foot-ring. Ware slightly translucent. The whole except the edge of the rim covered with dull creamy glaze. H. 3 in., D. %\ in. {b) With incised or carved decoration. Noi. I JO — IJ2. 130. Wine-pot and Cover, with handle in the form of three stems bound together, ending in formal flowers. The body divided by short incised strokes into six slight lobes. Ware opaque. Creamy glaze with faint greenish-brown tint. H. 6 in., D. 4I in. {see p. 18). (Plate 41.) 131. Bowl with rounded sides and small foot -ring. Carved lotus-bud and leaf in the middle ; radial lines in very slight relief. Ware opaque. Greyish glaze with " tear-stains"; the edge of rim bare of glaze. H. 2% in., D. 8| in. {see p. 17). (Plate 42.) 132. Bowl with rounded sides and small foot-ring. Incised lotus-flower inside. Opaque ware. Greyish glaze ; the edge of rim bare. H. if in., D. 3f in. (Plate 40.) « 40 CATALOGUE D With fine translucent body, of brownish tone by transmitted light, and warm cream-coloured glaze, of the type of the Chinese pai Ting : if of Chinese origin probably made at Ting-chou before the removal of the kilns southwards about 1 126—7 [see p. 18). id) Undecorated. iVu. 133. 133. Bowl with rounded sides and small foot-rim. " Tear-stains " on glaze; edge of rim bare of glaze. H. i| in., D. 3I in. {see p. 18). {b) With incised decoration. Nos. 134, 135. ^ 134. Bowl. Inside, four wavy radial lines with "claw-marks" between. Outside, oblique deeply-scored grooves stopping short at an incised line below the mouth. Base and foot-ring bare of glaze. Gilt lacquer repairs. H. "2^ in., D. 4I in. {seep. 18). (Plate 42.) 135. Bowl with rounded sides ; small foot-ring ground down, base partly bare of glaze. Lotus-spray inside. H. if in., D. 3§ in. {see p. i8). (Plate 40.) [c) With painting in thick white slip under the glaze. No. 136. 136. Bowl with rounded sides and small foot-ring. Conventional flowers inside. " Tear-stains " in glaze on outside. Base and foot glazed, edge of rim bare. H. 2 in., D. 7^ in. {see p. 1 8). (Plate 43') Celadon porcelain, perhaps of Northern Chinese origin, opaque body, glaze of deep olive-green tone {see p. 18). {a) With incised decoration. No. 137. 137. Bowl, wide cone-shaped, with spreading mouth and small broad foot-ring which has been ground down, partially removing the spur-marks. Inside, deeply-cut rays resembling chrysanthemum-petals, around an engraved rosette in the middle. Broken and mended with gilt lacquer. H. 2 in., D. 6 in. (Plate 44.) WARES OF ^UNCERTAIN ORIGIN 41 [b) With decoration produced by shaping in a mould. Nos. 138, 139. 138, 139, Two Bowls, with small foot-ring, in both cases ground down. Both shaped on the same mould, producing on the inside reliefs of three mandarin ducks amongst lotus-plants and reeds, the details of the design being scratched in with a pointed instrument. Sand-marks on the base. Each, H. 2 in., D. 4^ in. (see p. 6). (Plate 44.) PART III.— IMPORTED CHINESE WARES § 1.—CHIEN YAO OR TEMMOKU WARE Made at Chien-yang in the province of Fuchien, Sung dynasty {seep. 15). Hard, coarse-grained, dark brown body. The glaze, running downwards from the rim, which is left bare, has collected inside the bowls in a pool of brilliantly lustrous black, almost bluish in tone, and externally in a thick wave of the same colour stopping short of the foot of the bowls, which is left bare ; towards the rim, in increasing degree, a rich yellowish-brown is apparent in fine vertical streaks, giving the effect of the feathers on the breast of a partridge. , Nos. 1^0 — 1^2. 140. Double Bowl, perhaps intended as a water-pot for the writing table. The outer bowl resembles in form Nos. 141, 142, except in having no pronoimced foot-ring, the base having merely a circular depression underneath. The shallower inner bowl adheres by its edge to the inside of the outer, but is tilted slightly out of the horizontal. A small V's'^^P^'l notch cut in the rim of, the outer bowl forms an opening to the cavity between the two ; near the same point a small loop rises from the surface of the inner bowl. The glaze is black, with speckling, and near the rim clouding, of dull brown. H. 2J in., D. 4J in. (Plate 37.) The very singular form of this vessel seems to be due to an accident by which the inner bowl became fixed within the outer before firing. The paste is of closer consistency than that of Nos. 141, 142. 141. Bowl. H. if in., D. 3I in. (Plate 37.) 142. Bowl, similar to No. 141 ; the markings finer, but the glaze somewhat impaired. H. if in., D. 2H in- (Plate 37.) § II.— TZ'U-CHOU WARE Made at Tz'u-chou in the province of Honan, Sung dynasty [seep. 19). No. i^j. 143. Vase of hard buiF-coloured ware, with four loops (one of which is restored) on the shoulder, and broad shallow foot-ring. The lower portion and the base 42 ADDENDA 43 covered with dark greenish-brown glaze ; over the remainder a thick cream- coloured slip, upon which are painted, in dark brown, three rough leafy devices and horizontal bands. Four spur-marks on the base. H. lof in., D. 7 in. (Plate 45.) Vases similar in form and manner of decoration are figured in Hobson, Ch P P, vol. i., pi. 30, Fig, 3, and Bosch Reitz, E Ch P Sc, Catalogue No. 1 10. ADDENDA THE FOLLOWING PIECES, belonging to the family of brown-glazed wares described in Part II. Section II. (p. 37), were received separately, too late for inclusion in the body of the catalogue. It' is difficult to decide whether these are actually Corean, or Chinese importations. No. 144 resembles the north- ern type of Chinese Temmoku ware from Honan province ; it is similar in the pale creamy colour of its body to Nos. 121, 122. No. 145 has a body of deeper buff tone, but similar brown mottling in the glaze under its base ; it may also be from Honan, the appearance on it of a cream-coloured reserve suggesting a connection with the wares of Tzu-chou in that province. 144. Bottle with pear-shaped body spreading out slightly at the base, long narrow neck and flaring mouth. Pale creamy bufF ware, covered with dark treacle- brown glaze showing specks of metallic lustre resembhng avantufine. At the mouth the glaze has burned to a rich chestnut-brown, and patches of golden brown show through the darker glaze round the waist. The base unglazed. H. 6| in., D. 3^ in. The bottle has the appearance of a piece which has failed in the firing. 145. Wine-jar, barrel-shaped, with shoulder contracting to a short narrow neck with expanded mouth. The body strongly marked with horizontal ribs produced during the throwing on the wheel. Hard bufF ware with thick glaze of lustrous dark treacle-brown mottled inside the mouth and under the base with golden brown. The glaze has run down into thick drops which stand out from the unglazed foot-ring ; some of these drops have been chipped away, leaving deep hollows in the paste, so that the jar should stand evenly. On the shoulder is a vertical oblong label reserved in the glaze and coated with cream-coloured slip, over which is an inscription painted in brown (probably the name of the maker of the wine which the jar was made to contain), reading (in Chinese) Shen se T^^ai Ho CKuan — "Dark colour Spring (or Source) of Prosperity and Peace." H. 9f in., D. 7 J in. APPENDIX STONE CHEST, of ash-grey slate, found containing porcelain vessels in a tomb of the Korai dynasty on Song-ak-san (" Pine-tree Phoenix Mountain ")', behind Songdo. It is rectangular, consisting of a flat base and lid and four loose slabs forming the walls, which were held in position by the weight of the lid pressing them into grooves cut to receive them in the base ; the walls are further secured from falling apart by similar grooves in the lid and in the two end slabs. Incised outline designs of symbolical meaning are cut in the walls, viz. : externally, the " Genii of the Four Quarters of the Heavens,"— the tortoise or^ Dusky Warrior (North) and the Red Bird (South) ^ on the two ends, the Green Dragon (East) and the White Tiger (West) on the two sides ; on the inside, lotus-flowers with buds and leaves on each of the four walls. H. i2|^ in., L. 2 ft. 6 in., W. lyi in. (Plates 46, 47, 48.) The use of such chests is discussed on pp. 21, 22 of the Introduction. The symbolical decoration finds a parallel in early Chinese custom. De Groot (RSCh, vol. i. p. 316) quotes an authority of the Han dynasty (b.c. 206-A.D. 220) to prove that in those days it was customary to paint the figures of the four Genii on the coffins of persons of rank, the intention being to idealise the dwelling of the dead as a universe in microcosm ; he shows further that relics of the same use of these symbols are found also during the T'ang dynasty (618-907). A marble sarcophagus of this latter period, intended apparently as a cenotaph for the residence of the soul, now in the Field Museum at Chicago, appears to be engraved with the same symbols ^ ; it was found by ' 1 The Red Bird may be identified with the phoenix or "sun-bird" discussed on p. 6. 2 It is stated by Laufer in his description of the sarcophagus (Ch S, p. 321) that " the four outer walls are decorated with designs . . . traced by means of a burin " ; three of these, shown in accompanying illustrations, are described respectively as a winged dragon (twice) with the front feet of a mammal and the hind feet of a bird, and a phcenix soaring in the clouds, " themes emblematic of death and resurrection"; the fourth design is neither described nor reproduced. From a comparison with ouf Corean chesty it seems probable that the designs have been misunderstood and should rightly be interpreted as also representing the Four Quarters. 44 APPENDIX 45 B. Laufer at Si-ngan Fu, in the Chinese province' of Shensi, and bears a date corresponding with 673 a.d. It may be noted that the snake which generally accompanies the tortoise of the North is here wanting ; the same peculiarity is to be remarked in a painting on the ceiling of an early Corean tomb recently excavated near Chin-nam-pho in the province of PhyOng-an, figured in Chiisen Koseki Dzufu, vol. ii., plates 164, 182. MEMORIAL TABLET of Lord Po Chun-n^ of Chin-shan (in Corean Keum-san, possibly the place of that name in the province of PhyOng-an), governor (p' an-kua' n) of Hsiin-lien-yiian (in Corean Hul-ly'dn-kol in PhyOng-an). Polished dark grey slate, with engraved inscription in Chinese detailing the pedigree and family records of the deceased. Dated Ch'ung-chen III. (1630 a.d.),^ eighth month. The conclusion of the inscription reads " Respectfully composed by his great-great-grandsons Wu-k'o and Te-tsui, and written out tjy his great grandnephew T'ien-tsu." H. 12 in., W. i3|- in.^ i|- in. thick. The person commemorated was possibly a Chinese official who died in Northern Corea. Tablets of this description have been in common use in China from a remote period to the present day. They are known as mo chi-ming, " tomb record inscriptions," and were laid inside the grave, paper rubbings of them being previously taken and distributed amongst the friends of the deceased. They were intentionally made to look like a book, the script being in the current " square " style used in printing, and for persons of great importance consisted not of a single tablet, but of several, laid one above another, like the pages of a book. They must not be confused with the inscribed tombstone or stele set up in the monument erected above or near the grave. Poorer persons used for the purpose tiles or bricks with inscriptions written in ink. The history and use of the tablets are fully discussed by De Groot, R S Ch, vol. iii. pp. 1 109-1 140. ^ I.e. third year of the Chinese emperor Ch'ung-ch6n (1628-1643), last of the Ming dynasty. This nien-hao dating is, as often, accompanied by a cyclical date, "51st year of the cycle." The nearest year in Christian chronology corresponding with this latter is 1614, which involves a discrepancy not as yet accounted for. INDEX "Agate ware," 19 AjantS. caves, 7, 8 Alexander Collection, 18 Alexander the Great, 8 Almanacs, decoration likened to Japanese, II, 12 Arabia, 6 Arita, 20 Asia, Central, 2 Astree, L', 9 Bactrian art, i, 8 Bamboo motives, 5, 6, 27 Bharhut tope, 7 ' Bird, Golden, 7 ; Red, 44 " Blue and white " decoration, 21 Boxes for pigments, 5, 17, 24, 25, 29, 31,39 Boys and lotus motive, 7, 34 Brahmanist symbols, 6, 7 Bronze, analogous forms in, 13 Brown-glazed wares, 14-16, 21, 36, 37, +3 Buddha symbolised by goose, 7 Buddhas, Cave of Thousand, 6 Buddhism introduced in Corea, I ; sup- pressed, 2 Buddhist monasteries of Tibet, 27 ; symbolism, 7 Burial customs, Chinese, 22, 45 ; Co- rean, 3, 21 Cafe au lait glaze, 14. Cave of Thousand Buddhas, 6 Celadon wares, 8, 9, 18, 34, 40 Ch'ang-nan, 17 Ch'ao-hsien, 2 Chekiang province, 10 Ch^ng-ting Fu, 16 Ch'^n Shih-i, name inscribed, 9, 24 Chest, stone, 3, 21, 44 Chicago, 44 Chien-an, 15 Chien-ning, 15 Cbien-yang, 15, 42 Chien yao, 14, 15, 42 46 Chili province, 16, 19 Chinese domination in Corea, 2 j forms of vessels, 3 ; wares imported, 19, 40,42 Ch'ing, colour, Jo, 12, 13 Ching-te Ch6n, 12, 17 Chin-nam-pho, 45 Chin-shan, 45 Chosen, 2 Chrysanthemum motives, 6 Ch'ung-ch^n, emperor, 45 Cisterns for fish, 5 ; water, 6 Cobalt, use of, in Corea, 20 Cockspurs, 5, 1 1 Coffins, Chinese, 44 ; Corean, 21 Combed ornament, 4, 9 Confucianism, 2 Cooking-vessels, 4 Copper. red, 21 Corea, origin of name, 2 " Corean pottery, distinctive shapes, 5 Cranes, motive, 6, 7 Cream-coloured wares, 16, 19, 21 Cupid, 8 Daisy form of chrysanthemum, 6 Dawn, Bird of, 7 "Dead-leaf" brown, 14, 15, 29, 37 Decoration, motives of, 6 Dharmachakra, 7 Diospyros kaki, 19 Dragon, Green, 44 Ducks in design, 6, 28, 41 d'Urf6, Honors, 9 Eros, 8 hlng-huang, 6 t^n Ting, 17» 18 Field Museum, Chicago, 44 Fish-bowls, 5, 26-28 Fish motive, 7 "Five-colour" decoration, 21 Flowers in decoration, 6 Flower-vases, 6 France, Roman ware from, 19 INDEX 47 Fresco-painting, Corean, 2, 45 ; Indian, 7,8 Fuchien province, 14, 42 Fusan, 3 Gandhira sculptures, 8 Garuda^ 6 Giogi, 4 Goose in decoration, 6, 7 Gourd motives, 6, 10 Graeco-Bactrian kingdom, 1, 8 Graeco-Buddhist art, 8 Hakugorai^ 17 Han dynasty, 44 Hang-chou, 18 Hansa, 7 Hare's-fur cups, 15 Hellenistic art, 8 Hermit Kingdom, 2 Hiakusai, i Hideyoshi, 2, 13 Higo province, 13 Hispano-Moresque ware, 20 Hizen province, 20 Honan province, 15, 19, 42, 43 Horiu-ji, Nara, 2 Hsii Ching, embassy of, 10, 17 Hsun-lien-yiian, 45 Hua, signification, 12 Hui Ch'ang, emperor, 16 Human figure on Corean pottery, 7 Imari ware, 20 Imported wares, Chinese, 14, 19, 42, 43 ; Japanese, 14 India, 6-8 Inlaid decoration, 11, 13 Inscribed pieces, 9, 24, 43 Iron, glaze-colour derived from, 14, 21 Italian pottery, 8, 19 Japan, relations with Corea, i, 2, 14 Ju-chou, 10 Ju-i sceptre, 8, 27, 28, 32, 33 K'ai-f6ngFu, 18 Kakigusuri, 16, 37 Kao-li, I, 16 Kao-li-yao, 4 Khotan, art of, 2 Kiangsi province, 17 Koma, I K5rai dynasty, 2, 4, 9, 15, 21, 23, 44 ; kingdom, i ; -yaki, 4 Korio province, i, 2 Kuan yao, 1 8 Kudara, i Longevity symbols, 7 Lotus, symbolism of, 6, 7 Lung-ch'iian, 10, 12 Maiolica, 8, 20 Majorca, 20 Maker's signature, 9 Manchuria, pottery from, 3 ; subject to Kao-li, 1 6 Mandarin-ducks, 6, 28, 41 Marbled ware, 37 Meiki, 3 Memorial slab, 21, 45 Ming dynasty, 2, 20, 28, 45 Mishima decoration, 33-35 ; early type, II ; in China, 11 ; in Japan, 13; • origin of, 1 1 Mo chi-ming,, 45 Nara, 2, 6 Nelumhium, 7 Neolithic pottery, 3 Neriage, 19, 37 Oang the Founder, 2 Oil-bottles, 6, 27, 31, 34 Ox-eye daisy, 6 Pat Ting, 17, 18, 40 Parrot form of phoenix, 6 " Partridge cups," 1 5 Path, Eightfold, Buddhist, 7 P^kche, I Pelliot Mission, 8 Peony motive, 6 Persimmon-coloured glaze, i6 ; juice as pigment, 19 Pheasant form of phoenix, 6 Phoenix, 6, 44 Phyong-an province, 45 Pigment-boxes, 5, 17, 24, 25, 29, 31, 39 P't-si porcelain, 10 Plum-blossom motive, 6 ; and torrent, 28 48 INDEX Po-chi, I Po Chiin-min, 45 P'o-hai province, i6 Putti paralleled in Corean art, 8 Quarters of Heaven, Four, symbols of, 44 Ri dynasty, 2 Roc, 6 Roman pottery, 19 Saghalien, pottery from, 3 " Samian " ware, 1 9 Sanchi tope, 6, 7 Sand as support for firing, 5, 9, 11, 25 Satsuma province, 13 Sceptre, Chinese ju-i, 8, 27, 28, 32, 33 Seoul, 2, 4 ; Museum, 4 Sheldrake, Ruddy, 7 Shensi province, 45 Shinra, i Shiragi, i Sh6s6-in, Nara, 6 Shou Lao, 7 Shuko-yaki, 18 Silla dynasty, 3, 23 ; kingdom, I, 2 Si-ngan Fu, 45 ,Sin-lo, I Slip decoration, 9, 11, 18, 25, 40 Snake and tortoise, symbol, 45 Song-ak-san, 44 :Songdo, 2, 4, 8, 44 Spittoon, 28 Spur-marks, 13 Staffordshire ware, 19 Stamps used in decoration, 4, 23 Stilts for support in kiln, 5, 1 1 Stork analogous with goose, 7 Sun-bird, 6, 7, 44 Sun-do, I Sung dynasty, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 42 Tablet, memorial, 45 Taiko, the, 2 Taiku, I, 3 T'ang dynasty, i, 6, 11, 14-16, 19, 37, 38,44 Tea ceremonies, Chinese, 14 ; ceremo- nies, Japanese, 18 ; clubs, 20; ritual, Tibetan, 27 ; unknown in Corea, 5 Tea-pots, Tibetan form of, 27 "Tear-stains," 17, 39, 40 Temmoku wzres, 14, 15, 37, 42, 43; origin ofmame, 14 T'ien-mu-shan, mountain, 14 Tiger, White, 44 Ting-chou, 16, 18, 19, 40 Ting wares, 16, 17, 38 Tombs, Corean, 22 ; records, 45 ; wares, 3' 4 Tope, Sanchi, 6, 7 Tortoise, symbolical, 44 Tou, form of tazza, 4 Toys, 9, 25 Translucent wares, 8, 9, 16, 18, 23, 40 Tun-huang, cave at, 6 Turkestan, Chinese, 6, 8 T'uTing^ 17, 18, 39 Tzii-chou, 19, 42, 43 Fahana of Brahma, 7 Valencia, 20 Vegetable form, vessels in, 5 " Vehicle " of Brahma, goose, 7 Vermilion, boxes for, 5 Wang the Founder, 2 Warrior, Dusky, 44 Water, vessels for storing, 6 Water-lily, symbolism of, 6 Water-pot, writer's, 42 Wedding ceremonial, Corean, 7 Wei, Northern, dynasty, 3 Wheel, potter's, introduced in Corea, 3 ; in Japan, 4 Wheel of the Law, Buddhist, 7 Whieldon, Thomas, 19 White wares, 16, 38 Willow motive, 6 Wine-pots, 10, 26, 27, 34, 39, 43 Writing-table, pots for, 42 Yatsushiro, 13 Yeg-orai, 11, 20, 34, 35 Yi dynasty, 2, 20 Yi Taijo, 2 Yoshimasa, Shdgun, 18 Yiieh-chou, 10 Printed in Great Britain by R. Clay and Sons, Ltd. , Brims-wick St. , Stamford St. ,S.E.i, and Bungay, Suffolk. I,,\ 1 1'. I Pl.AlE 2 H4 Browii-yliizcd wares of uncertain date Plai'k 3 Plate 4 H Pi. ATI'; 5 Larly pDi'ccJain ol Linccrtain date. Platk 6 o a- -o > T3 N 'bJD O U I. ATI' 49 Celadon-glazed wine-pot and tish-hovvl. Plate 8 41 Ccladon-jjlazcd bottle I'l.ATJ'. r, Celadoii-glazcd wine-pot. Plate io 43 CcUidon-f^lazed wine-iu^'. 1*1. ATI: I I i?i/ 48 45 CcliiLl(jn-!_;"l;izcd ware. Plate I2 O a 'a; \l I I bfj '■J U LATK I, L\'luilon-L;la/cd Ixnvl. I'l.ATI. 1 5 J: f ' H ^'% Vi ■ I ss Celadon -"lazed howl. Plate i*"! 97 59 Ccladon-el;i''-cd dish and howl. Pla'I'k 17 Oo Celadoii-irlazcd bowl. Plate io o S) o u PLAMi I q 9 54 <^S Celadon-glazeti bowls. Pl. ATE 20 66 Celadon -glazed bowl. PlAIK 2 I 67 69 Ccladoii-glazed bowls. Plate 22 74 70 Mis/iivia cup and howl. Pl.A'/'K 11^ •y. o bfl Plate 24 86 80 75 98 71 roi) Alislii))iii vvai-fs. Plate 25 87 Alishivni bowls. Pl.ATK 26 93 A'lisliima bowls. I, vrii 27 95 Alishima bowl Plate 28 brj 'Z o SI bSj U Pl.A'L'K 29 Slip-painted wine-pot. Plate 30 Pi. A IE 31 Mishima jar. P LATE 3 2 I o() Slip-paliited vase. i^.ATI', j] roy Slip-painted vase. Plate 34 -M 99 % Celadon-irlazed bowl and dish. Plaik 36 Celadon-o-lazed bowl. " Marbled " bowl. I'l,; A^Sit^ 140 "5 118 I JO 14- 1 2 2 Hrown-iilazcil wai'cs. Plate -,8 iiS A\'hitc porcelain cup. Brown-glazed porcelain bowl and stand. Plaik 39 (U o o m Plate 40 o o b~i I. All' 41 O S<5 Plate 42 134 Tui'^ ware bowls. l.ATh 43 'o" Slip-paiiited Th/g wai'c bowl. Plate 44 138 139 Celadon howls, perhaps Northern Chinese. I'l A'l I, 45 '13 Tz'u-chou vase. Plate 46 < U o 'I.ATK 47 A lU't NI>1\ Stone chest ; cxtci-ii)r dccfiratioii. Plate 48 f:^' APPINIIIX Stone chest ; interior decoration, side, and end NOTE THIS Catalogue can be obtained direct from the Director and Secretary, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, S.W. 7, or through any bookseller. The price is 3J-. bd. ; by post 4^. od. Orders should be accompanied by a remittance. Catalogues and handbooks relating to the Department of Ceramics are shown below. Publication No. Catalogues. 7 c Maiolica. By C. Drury Fortnum, D.C.L., F.S.A. pp. cix. and 698 ; r2 chromolithographs and 61 woodcuts. Roy. 8vo. Bound. 1873. 2/. [By post 2/. OS. 9^.] 21 c Glass Vessels. By Alexander Nesbitt, F.S.A. pp. clx. and 218 ; 24. plates. Roy. 8vo. Bound. 1878. I2j. [By post i2j. 6d.] 53 Delft Plates ; a series of twelve illustrating the Tobacco Industry, pre- sented by J. H. Fitzhenry, Esq., with description and illustrations. 4to. Cloth. 1907. \s. bd. [By post 5^.] io6 The Schreiber Collection. By Bernard Rackham. Vol. I., English Porcelain, pp. xviii. and 186; 96 plates. Crown 410. Paper boards. 19 1 5. 2s. bd. [By post 35. 3^.] f^ol. II. will deal with the Earthen- ware in the Collection, and Vol. HI. with the Glass and Enamels. These vuill not be published until after the war. 123 c The Herbert Allen Collection of English Porcelain. By Bernard Rackham. pp. xvi. and 168 ; 99 plates. Crown 4to. 191 7. 2i. [By post zs. bd.'\ Cloth y. [By post 35. bd.'\ Handbooks. 70 c English Earthenware, made during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, ^y Sir A. H. Church, K.C.V.O., F.R.S. Third edition, pp. xviii. and 154; 78 figs, on 67 plates. Demy 8vo. 1911. \s.bd. [By post 2J.] ; in cloth 2f. yl. [By post is. <^d?\ 71 c English Porcelain, made during the eighteenth century. By Sir A. H. Church, K.C.V.O., F.R.S. \Out of print and will not be reprinted until after the war.] 78 c Japanese Pottery. A native report, with an introduction and catalogue. By Sir Augustus W. Franks, K.C.B., F.R.S., F.S.A. [Out of print and will not he reprinted until after the war.] _ 79 c Stained Glass. By Lewis F. Day. pp. vi. and 115 ; 32 plates, 34 figs. Demy 8vo. Reprinted 1913. n. bd. [By post u. lO^d.]; in cloth 2s. yd. [By post is. J^d.]