WHITE-INLAID BOTTLE / TOKKURI, Buncheong ware, Joseon Dynasty (1392–1897 CE)
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A small white-inlaid buncheong bottle dating to the early Joseon period. It may be used as a tokkuri.
Small enough to fit in the palm, this piece nonetheless displays the low, rounded swelling of the body characteristic of early Joseon vessels, making it exceptionally comfortable to hold. The rim opens slightly outward, and the lines flowing naturally from neck to shoulder and from shoulder to body possess the gentle softness typical of early buncheong.
The body is entirely covered with fine white inlay. White inlay is a technique in which designs are incised into the clay body, filled with white clay, and then fired. While inheriting the inlay technique of Goryeo celadon, early Joseon buncheong wares developed a more rustic and free expression. In this example, small dot motifs are struck across the body, enveloping it and appearing softly beneath the glaze.
In Japan, this type of white-inlaid Buncheong ware is known as Mishima and has long been cherished by tea connoisseurs. The scene of fine dotted and linear motifs was likened to the calendar of Mishima Taisha in Izu, and it is said that this association gave the style its name. This piece likewise shows white-inlaid dot motifs quietly spreading across the small vessel surface, possessing a density suited to contemplation in the palm.
The bluish glaze displays fine crazing that, together with the white-inlaid dotted pattern, creates a gentle sense of depth. The decoration is delicate, yet the overall form is light and carries a quietly approachable presence. The unpretentious beauty characteristic of buncheong ware is clearly evident.
The capacity is approximately 70cc. Its compact, palm-sized proportions make it suitable as a small sake bottle; while intended as a drinking vessel, it can also serve on the tea tray as a petite flower vase. Wear consistent with age is visible on the rim and around the foot, together with glaze irregularities and areas where the clay is exposed, all within an acceptable range for an antique ceramic.
Although modest in scale, this bottle is pleasing to the hand: its slightly bulbous lower body and well-executed white-inlaid decoration together convey the charm of early Joseon buncheong ware.
Numerous product photos are available for you to examine the details and condition. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Its aesthetic placed emphasis not on surface splendor or technical virtuosity, but on forms and modes of being that quietly support a person’s inner life. Vessels and furniture were not simply tools for use; they may also have served as a kind of “place of self-cultivation,” ordering one’s daily conduct and state of mind. A plain jar in a scholar’s study, a simple desk, an undecorated brush rest—these were objects before the eye, but also mirrors of one’s posture and thought.
It is no accident that crafts from the Joseon period possess a presence that “does not say too much.” They were made to accompany the inner life—not to overwhelm the viewer, but to breathe alongside us and quietly restore a sense of order.
In white porcelain, for example, such “unintended phenomena” as the slight flow of glaze, variations in the clay body, or slight irregularities of form were accepted as they were. They embody a spirit of broad acceptance, unlike the modern aesthetic that treats perfection and uniformity as the highest values. This view reconsiders the boundaries between nature and human making, beauty and imperfection, object and mind; it is not an exaggeration to say that it existed beyond the frame of craft as the spirit of an age.
If we were to name it, the beauty of Joseon is not a “beauty of display” but a “beauty of resonance.” Its beauty lies not solely in the attraction of the object itself, but in the opportunity it gives us to reconsider how a person ought to be through the object. For this reason, an object must not speak too much; it must contain intervals, open space, and silence. I cannot help feeling that such thought runs beneath the making of these objects.
These values eventually crossed the sea and took deep root in Japan. In the world of chanoyu in particular, Joseon white porcelain and buncheong ware were already being used by the Momoyama period. Their simple, quiet character—different from the solemn grandeur of Chinese karamono—came to be embraced. The tea aesthetic of “clearing the mind before what does not speak” resonated deeply with the silence and imperfection held in Joseon vessels, nurturing a gaze that found in them the spirit of wabi-sabi.
With the arrival of the modern era, thinkers of the Mingei movement such as Yanagi Sōetsu and Kawai Kanjirō found in Joseon vessels “the power to purify a person” and “a form of life as it ought to be.” At a time when craft was being forgotten, these objects were welcomed not merely as old vessels but, with profound sympathy and respect, as presences reflecting a way of living itself.
When I, living in the present day, encounter the crafts of Joseon, I am moved once again by their stillness. They contain the thought of an age that asked how a person should live and how one should be. That thought has not faded; it continues to resonate clearly even now.
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Tax excluded. Import duties may apply. Shipping costs are calculated at checkout.
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