FLATTENED JAR, White porcelain, Joseon Dynasty (1392–1897 CE)
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A Joseon white porcelain flattened jar.
A white porcelain flattened jar with a broad, shallow circular body, a short neck and mouth, and a rectangular raised foot. Seen from the front, it has a fullness like a full moon; in profile it reveals a thin, flattened silhouette. The pairing of the widely swelling body, the small mouth that rises cleanly, and the foot supporting the base is elegant, and among Joseon white porcelain this piece is notable for its strong sculptural presence.
The piece dates to the late Joseon period, likely from the late 18th–19th century. The glaze is a soft white with a bluish cast; in light it combines a faint, cool bluish-white porcelain quality with the gentle warmth characteristic of whiteware. The body shows slight iron deposits and age-related toning, so it is not a perfectly uniform white but has the quiet expression typical of antique white porcelain. Across the broad surfaces there are fine abrasions and subtle variations in sheen from use, conveying the composed, time-worn surface of a vessel that has matured over a long period.
This piece has a firmly built footring and a tautly modeled body. Unlike mass-produced utilitarian wares, it appears to be Bunwon white porcelain, or a flattened jar used in and around the court. Entirely free of decoration, it relies solely on form and glaze, displaying the composed restraint characteristic of Joseon white porcelain.
The flattened jar, while a utilitarian vessel, commands a strong presence in its very silhouette when set on view. In this example, the circular spread seen from the front, the thinness of the walls in profile, and the subtle tension between rim and foot are finely balanced. It is effective displayed on its own, and when paired with Joseon furniture, weathered wood, stone, or antique ceramics, the contours of the white porcelain are brought into sharper relief.
There are signs of age on the rim, around the footring, and on the body, including wear, fine scratches, slight discoloration, and irregularities in the glaze. The body shows a faint hairline crack or fine linear scratches following the glaze surface. The footring bears soil deposits and traces of use. There are no major chips. Please note that this piece is old.
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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