A BUNCHEONG INCISED STONEWARE BOTTLE

Brushed slip and sgraffito carving are associated with the kilns of Cholla province in the southwest. The underglaze white slip is thickly applied over the heavily potted body and the design incised in relief to the ground, a contrasting grayish-green when the vessel is fired. The overglaze is thin and transparent with a faint greenish cast which can be more pronounced, as in this example, where the glaze is more thickly applied. These buncheong (literally, "powder green") wares signaled a robust new era of ceramic design. The boldness of conception and spontaneity of these carved patterns has been admired consistently in Korea and Japan and in the West since the turn of the twentieth century.
For similar vessels see Byung-chang Rhee, Masterpieces of Korean Art--Yi Ceramics (Tokyo: privately published, 1978), no. 37.