An Older Korean Buncheong Chawan

We have had very little snow in our area this winter and what snow we did have has not been big and fluffy while bending the branches with its downy whiteness so deep you can barely move.  Beautiful yes, but not being a skier that type of snow doesn't bring me physical joy.  I'm the one who has to shovel it.  

The snow we are having reminds me of an older buncheong bowl in my personal collection.  As I said, this snow is not the snow that is all fluffy and bright - untouched and pure white, but a snow that is more ‘natural’ and touched heavily by its environment. 

The bowl is touched heavily by its environment too and takes me back to a Korea 'touched heavily' by the conditions of the times.  This bowl takes me to my  Korean grandparents and to the times they experienced prior to and during the period when this bowl was made - the years when Japan occupied Korea.

I’m speaking of my ‘gqey yl’ buncheong chawan or brushed slip chawan made in Korea during the period of the Japanese occupation – officially 1910-1945.  I use the term ‘officially’ because the Japanese were in control pf Korea for several years before 1910 - defeating both Russia and China then assassinating Queen Min1 in 1895 and in 1906 dissolving the Korean army and palace guards of which my grandfather was a ‘captain’.  Grandfather would die for Korean independence, possibly also by assassination.  But that is another story that has been told elsewhere.

 My Old Korean Buncheong ‘Gqey Yl’’

Even though both China and Korea used powdered tea before the Japanese the Japanese are responsible for the elevated position Korean chawan hold in the tea world.   But, why do older and even some contemporary Korean chawan hold an elevated position in the chawan world?  A complete explanation would take many more pages than I care to write for this post.  However, historically at least, the Japanese simply couldn’t make teabowls as 'natural' as the Koreans.  Even the great Japanese Intangible Cultural Asset Hamada Shoji, under whom I studied, agreed.  He simply said, “You can’t make loose work in a tight society.”  

Perhaps that is why the Japanese, during their occupation of Korea, had Korean potters make chawan for export to Japan.  Some of those bowls remained in Korea and this is one of them.  During this discussion you may even discover why I imagine this teabowl remained in Korea.   

I obtained it a few years ago, at very little cost, from a very reputable antique gallery in Insadong, Seoul.  I have also seen similar 'occupation' chawan offered as authentic historic buncheong chawan from the “buncheong period” of Korean ceramic history - 1392-1592 by less reputable dealers in the same area of Seoul.

For a 'complete understanding' of this bowl I suppose history is important but this is not a dissertation.  I simply want to look at the bowl.  In any case some 'history' has already crept in.  

Before I begin the main discussion, I want to say a little about buncheong and gqey yl.  There is considerable confusion leading occasionally to misrepresentations of buncheong by otherwise knowledgeable tea people both here and in Korea.  So I want the reader to understand this particular type of buncheong.  

What is ‘buncheong’ and what is ‘gqey yl’?  To avoid a very lengthy history lesson, buncheong, is a relatively new Korean term for a group of ancient Korean ceramic decorating processes that use mostly white slip in a number of ways under a clear glaze.  'Slip' is essentially clay in the consistency of paint due to the amount of water present.  White slip, containing porcelain clay, was primarily used.  ‘Gqey yl’ is a term used to describe buncheong when a brush is/was used  to apply the slip.  Does this explanation sound too simple, it is.  But it will have to do for this post.  Someday I’ll do a post here or on another blog explaining 'buncheong' in more depth.  But for now, let's look at this bowl.

 Click to Enlarge All Images

It measures 5.5in or 14cm wide and 2.25in or about 6cm tall.  A smaller chawan.  The form is Japanese, not Korean.  There are a number of authentic Korean chawan forms but this is not one of them.  At first glance it is a common bowl - at first glance it is not even that attractive, mostly because of the foot and unusual lip roughness.  In my opinion the foot is little too weak, and with the exception of the off centered trimming, it is also a little too tight.  

What a way to begin to describe a chawan - by pointing out what I believe to be its faults.  The bowl is a 'product of its environment' and there are other “faults”, so lets get them out of the way before I really tell you what I think about this bowl.

 While vases and bottles are formed from the exterior, bowls are formed from the interior so let's look there first.  The white slip was applied quickly with a broad but not rough brush.  A yellow stain of unknown origin mars the surface.  Next to it, we find a drop of slip.  

   

The origin of the yellow stain is not known.  Most likely the drop of slip is the result of dipping the rim of the bowl very gently and carefully into the bowl of slip, after brushing, just to be certain the rim of the bowl was covered.  This extra dipping of the lip accounts for the unusual drip markings across and around much of the rim.  These markings are unusual and probably undesirable by a Japanese chawan connoisseur even 100 years ago.

  

  

Turning again to the interior of the bowl we are confronted with a number of interesting 'events'.

 

I first notice the contrasting color of the center circle with the rest of the bowl.  This is caused I believe by captured 'reduction' or lack of oxygen in the 'foot well' under the bowl.  Some Korean chawan styles, and many chawan from Hagi, Japan2 call for a notch in the foot to allow oxygen into this area thus preventing this type of color change.  Next, we see three 'wad' marks where small wads of clay were used so that another similar bowl could be stacked inside this one during the firing3.  A true chawan connoisseur would say these wad marks are too large.  You might also notice two other 'events'.  First, the tiny bare clay spot nearly in the center of the bottom where a piece of slip in drying did not adhere properly and came off sometime after firing.  Second, another drip of white slip; this time the slip had more water content and splashed flat just off the upper left center bottom.  It was just thick enough to cover a sliver of the captured reduction.  One can not leave the interior of this chawan without commenting on the slight glaze crawl and slight green tint to the transparent glaze where, for a number of possible reasons, the glaze application was a little thicker.  Overall the glaze is applied very thinly.  Each of these events adds immeasurably to the story of this chawan.

         

Let's take another look at the foot.  Earlier I said it was a little too weak.  But this photo doesn't suggest that.  That is because the foot is inconsistent being straight on one side and concave on the other.  When holding this bowl in my hands the foot is a little too weak.  Again, due to the above camera angle the image shows the foot as being slightly convex when in reality it is ranges from slightly concave to straight. (below)

 

The artist used a gubsuay-kal or 'left bent' knife made by hand from a flat strap of thin metal especially to trim the foot quickly.  Tools of this type are 'must have' if you are serious about creating chawan.  The foot ring is trimmed part way down the side of the bowl.  In this case, it is trimmed to the area the artist decided to cover with slip.  It is not unusual for an Asian ceramic artist to trim more than a Western ceramic artist.  In Asia, trimming is simply another forming process.  I have seen highly skilled Korean and Japanese masters trim their bowls from the bottom of the foot to nearly the edge of the lip to get a desired form.  The clay body contains particles of both mountain sand and stone.  Mountain sand is 'toothy',  It is not like river bottom sand that is rounded by the water and acts like minuscule ball bearings during the forming process.  No 'grog' i.e. pre-fired and pulverized bisque clay is used because, "Grog is dead clay and absorbs water" (again Hamada). 

   

A closer look at the foot and edge of the slip reveals both the stone in the clay body and the 'drier' consistency of the slip when it was applied.

I suppose it is time to discuss what I really feel about this bowl rather than what I see in this bowl.  Have you ever picked up a pebble that you liked more than a diamond?  Have you ever thought that old coins were more attractive than new coins?  Have you ever met a person who on initial meeting wasn't attractive but became so after you got to know them?  This bowl is like that.  I don't know if I have ever been so 'critical' of a bowl that I really like.  In spite of its flaws or perhaps because of them this bowl has presence but it is not boisterous.  Simple, naive, un-agitated, the bowl is here to serve.  What more should we ask of a chawan? 

1 Queen Min is also known as Empress Myeongseong 
2 Hagi is a Japanese pottery village founded by Korean ceramic artists during or just after the Imjin War.
3 Potters of this period in Asia did not use kiln shelves so several teabowls were stacked inside each other separated only by specially prepared wads consisting mostly of refractory clay and usually some organic matter like rice flour or sawdust.  Many contemporary recipes for these wads can be found online.          

An Autumnal Chawan

It's early November, the leaves have turned to amazing tints and shades of red, yellow, orange and gold and the winds of autumn are beginning to chill the air.   I’ve been thinking about how this time of year seems to compel us to merge hot tea with bowl and about the fire and energy that creates that merging moment.  Every time of year is the perfect time for tea but the cool breezes, colors and haze of autumn, in my part of the world, seem to make the merging of tea and teabowl even more necessary. 

To illustrate this, I’m turning once again to a bowl by the renowned teabowl artist Min Young Ki.  He created a magnificent bowl that warms me just thinking about it. 

This bowl was born of fire and seems to keep the warmth of that flame within its soul.

 

The kiln that produced it seems almost haphazard.  Made of stone, clay and brick, the dome is cracked, yet there is nothing haphazard about the work that emerges.   Still, like most Korean teabowl artists, thousands are made, few chosen for the honor of serving tea.

 

Among all the teabowls that were selected, this teabowl is the epitome of autumn.  Let’s look at it again.

 

The bowl exudes warmth, not scorching HEAT, “warmth” with all the ramifications of that word.  You can almost feel how this bowl fits your hands and radiates that warmth into your bones. 

The natural feldspathic glaze creates a haze across the bowl.  We can almost see leaves drifting in the distance. 

   

Like autumn the weather changes.  Some days are warmer than others. . .

 

. . . and slowly the cool breezes of winter begin to appear. 

 

Like earth the foot is dark and strong holding above it all of autumn in a magnificent bowl. 

Tranquility: Another Taste

Please Read Previous Post First

Min Young Ki

“I don’t get it.  This is just a common bowl.  I can find lots of bowls like this on my college student’s shelves and I have them throw most of them out.”  A well-known American potter said this to me while showing me a photo of a nice Korean tea bowl.  That bowl was similar in color and form to this bowl but; to be fair, it was not this bowl he was referring to.  Never the less, bowls like this may not be for everyone.  This bowl is so “simple” so “plain”, un-agitated, innocent, natural and “ordinary”.

Before I began this post I had a very brief moment when I thought I might attempt to “enlighten” that potter and others to the beauty of this bowl by discussing the things about it that make it truly a very special tea bowl.  What a pompous, naïve thought that was!  Unless there is personal insight nothing more can be said or seen. 

In addition, I’m certain that I don’t always “get it”.  If I understood or felt a tiny fraction of what can or should be understood or felt about chawan it might give me a little peace in this search.  I am sure that there are many really good chawan that I don’t yet “see” or “feel”.  So who am I to judge others?

This particular Min bowl is probably easier to “feel” but may be more difficult to “see”. 

When tasting various teas for the first time it often takes me more than one sitting to fully appreciate the various nuances.  It seems to be the same with chawan.  This post is here simply to give you another taste.

Click on images once or twice to enlarge

Soetsu Yanagi wrote of the Kizaemon Ido Teabowl:

Why should beauty emerge from the world of the ordinary? The answer is because that world is natural. In Zen there is a saying that at the far end of the road lies effortless peace. What more can be desired?  So, too, peaceful beauty. The beauty of the Kizaemon Ido bowl is that of strifeless peace . . . . .

and this chawan?

  Peace

Tranquility

 

Min Young Ki

Sometimes it is the simplest things that make the most lasting impressions.  Grace does not go unnoticed, a gentle breeze is more appreciated than a gale and calm doesn’t have to be followed by a storm.  Such it is with this particular chawan by Min Young Ki.  How can hard fired clay emerging from earth and fire seem like gossamer?  How can hard fired clay seem so delicate?  Not “fragile” but “delicate”.  This tea bowl is the epitome of “peace” and that is why I am presenting it to you just after the devastating events in Japan.  We need a little “peace’.  We need a quiet moment when we can simply sit, perhaps with warm green tea in a favorite ch’at-chan or be with our favorite chawan and some Japanese matcha to contemplate the moment while clearing our minds of all else.  It is moments like this that tea and bowl or cup become one.  It is for moments like this that Tea, bowl and cup are made.  This chawan is the epitome of tranquility.  Subtle in color and form this bowl’s presence is “felt” before “seen”.  Such serene and tranquil moments come too seldom.

Peace.

Chick on images once to enlarge twice to zoom in

Please go to Next Post Tranquility: Another Taste

The Effect of the Sendai Earthquake and Tsunami on Ceramics in Japan

This post is dedicated to the victims of the Sendai earthquake and Tsunami.  It is without images but does contain links to many images and other web related sites.

My family is keenly aware of earthquakes.  As a young child my father survived the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 (7.9-8.25).  More than 3000 people were lost.  Dad remembers running out of his home then turning around and watching his home collapse.  When he spoke of this on a recording I made of him while he was in his 70’s he reached down to rub his leg and said, ”I can still feel that shaking in my legs.”  My brother, who was a professor working near Kobe, Japan survived the Great Hanshin earthquake or Kobe earthquake in 1995 (7.3).  6433 people lost their lives and it lasted for 20 seconds.  An armoire fell and hit my brother on his head while he slept.  He survived but still suffers from the incident.  I fortunately have never experienced an earthquake or at least one I felt. 

This is a devastating time in Japan’s history.  Everyone can feel greatly saddened at Japan’s loss in lives and property.  Can you imagine an 8.9 earthquake that lasted for two minutes and created a tsunami that caused 7 ft waves along the western coast of the United States and down the coast of South America?  There have been ‘aftershocks’ from this earthquake nearly the size of the Kobe earthquake of 1995.  The power of this earthquake and tsunami is beyond measure or full comprehension.  We have no idea of the death toll from the Sendai earthquake and tsunami.  We do know that Sendai is a city of about 1 million people and it was greatly damaged.  We also know that about 10,000 people are reportedly unaccounted for in the Japanese port town of Minamisanriku in quake-hit Miyagi prefecture.   In addition, two high-speed bullet trains were missing alongside a cruise ship carrying 100 passengers that was swept away when the wave hit. One of the trains was reported to be carrying 400 passengers.  Sadly the number of lost lives will be enormous.

The people of Japan will feel the effect of this earthquake and the tsunami beyond the life expectancy of anyone who actually experienced it.

The loss of property is unimportant.  A single life cannot be measured against any amount of ‘property’.  But for those of us in ceramics, the effect these events have had or will have on ceramics in Japan may still be of interest, even if it is merely a diversion from the great sadness we feel from the loss of lives. 

Miyagi prefecture where the city of Sendai is located is not known for their chawan but is well known for folk pottery.  Kirikomi-yaki and Tsutsumi-yaki are from the Miyagi prefecture.  The Miyagi prefecture has several ceramic related museums.  They include:

MUSEUM OF JOMON ART

A two hundred piece collection of Jomon earthenware forms the core of this museum. Amassed by poet Sakon Sou, the museum is housed in a specially renovated 'kura' or an old Japanese warehouse.

TOHOKU Modern Pottery and Porcelain Museum

Tohoku Modern Pottery and Porcelain Museum was established in 1987 in order to preserve the folk ceramic culture in the region. The collection includes folk pottery and porcelain of Tohoku region made during Edo, Meiji and Taisho period are mainly shown. Kirikomi-yaki and Tsutsumi-yaki of Miyagi prefecture, Aizu-Hongo-yaki, Obori-Soma-yaki, Soma-Koma-yaki of Fukushima prefecture, Hirashimizu-yaki of Yamagata prefecture and Shiroiwa-yaki of Akita prefecture are on display.  A true folk art museum

(Examples of this work are difficult to find on the the English web, If you have links to these on Japanese web sites, I would appreciate that information )

The Marusu Museum

The Marusu Museum was established in 1950 to house the collection of Suda family in the region. The collection includes earthenware, Sue-style ware,  T'ang three-colored pottery,  Kyo-yaki,  Imari-yaki,  Kutani-yaki,  Seto-yaki,  Mino-yaki, Shigaraki-yaki,  Iga-yaki,  Banko-yaki,  Aizu-yaki and other ceramic ware are on display.

(This is the museum for tea ware including many chawan.)

The Akamon Museum located in Sendai

The Akamon Museum was established in 1982. The collection includes brush paintings, western paintings pottery and porcelain, swords, armors, helmets of samurai, sculptures as well as literature related to the local clan family in the region are mainly on display.

Thank you e-yakimono.net for some of this information

The earthquake affected many ceramic artists and art groups.  We have no idea how many.  However at last report Kelly Cox, an American ceramic artist traveling in Japan, is still missing.  Her wedding is planned for April.  I hope that she will post a comment on this site saying that she is well.  If you know Kelly and she is well, please have her post a comment on this blog.  I have great hope for Kelly’s survival since NewsCore recently posted the following statement. “The US has accounted for ‘most all’ of Americans known to be in Japan after the country was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami Friday”. ( Since this post I heard third-hand that Kelly survived and had her wedding!)

The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota was conducting a tour to Japan for their members and staff.  All are safe.

Columbus State University in Georgia had a small group of ceramic students studying ceramics in Japan.  All are safe.  

Ian MacDougall a Canadian living in Japan since 1984 commented, “The earthquake smashed one of my wife’s nicest pieces of pottery, but that’s the worst it did to us.” — CBC.  Multiply that comment by the thousands of others that also lost their “nicest pieces of pottery”.

Euan Craig, an Australian potter living and working in Mashiko, Japan, felt the effects of this quake and wrote about it in his blog.  They are safe but the kiln is damaged and they have no insurance because it was leased to someone without insurance.  I'm sure they could use some help.
We now know that Mashiko, Japan was greatly damages,  It has been reported that nearly all kilns in Mashiko suffered some damage and many pots wer broken.   Koichiro Isaka has posted damage to Hamada's kilns on his Facebook page.  Look on his "wall".  There was considerable damage to Hamada's Reference Museum containing some of his best work.  Many pieces were lost.  I worked with Hamada Shoji in 1963 so I feel that loss very deeply. 
Ken Matsuzaki has established a relief fund for the Mashiko Potter Foundation.  Currently that fund only receives money by bank transfer which costs $45 USD to the bank if transferred internationally from the United States.  I'll contact Ken to see if there is another way to contribute and post that here if he answers.  In the meantime if you don't mind the bank getting that much, contact me, prove you are a ceramic artist and I'll send you that bank swift code etc.  I am sure you can find it other places.  As you probably already know, when you have that type of bank information, someone can take out as easily as put in.  I have suggested to Ken that he use PayPal or a credit card system.  

Jan at Jane Street Clayworks has an interesting post on the disaster with several quotes and their links related to ceramics.

I can’t get my head around a post on tea bowls right now but think we all could make a small difference in the situation in Japan if we each donated the profit from just one ceramic item.  How about the profit from a day's work?

I’m sure you have your favorite places to make donations to relief efforts like this.  My favorite places to donate are:

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent  Societies,

The Salvation Army International and

Save the Children.

Those funds won't help the potters but there is great need and each of these organizations does great work in areas that need disaster relief.  Japan has given the ceramic world so much.  Perhaps it is time we give a little back.
The Leach Pottery in St Ives England has established a relief fund for the potters in Mashiko, Japan.  Contact Julia if you would like to make a special donation there.   

Be sure to avoid unknown or little known relief agencies and private individuals no matter who they say they are.  I'm sure the St. Ives pottery  and Ken Matsuzaki are fine.  
Also avoid those who say they are posting images from the disaster and ask you to log on.  There may be unwanted cookies attached.

Now we can only pray for the victims of this disaster and for all of Japan.

Peace.

The "Powdery Matsudaira" Revisited

(Click on Images to enlarge.  Use back arrow to return to post.)

I am sure that you are wondering why I would 'revisit' a chawan like the "Powdery Matsudaira".  As my subtitle, "An Adventure Toward Insight and Clarity", suggests; this blog is an adventure.  In addition, my first sentence on my introduction to this blog is, "I begin this blog knowing I have a profound lack of understanding and knowledge on the subject of Tea bowls."
In my earlier post on "Powdery Matsudaira" I wrote:

To many Tea ware artist and connoisseurs, the “Powdery” Matsudaira, like the Kizaemon, embodies the ‘essence of tea’.  From the moment it was formed on a humble wheel, to the quick dipping into slip ‘tum bung’ that left an accidental bare mark revealing the clay body - in a “tealeaf-like” pattern, to the accidental drip across that mark made when the potter lifted the bowl to keep the excess slip on the bowl, this was destined to be a great bowl.  Tiny specks of natural stone peeked through the slip at the peak of the firing.  This slip, like that on many old tum bung buncheong pieces, was more than strictly a “slip”.  It was a slip glaze fusing slightly and sealing the body.  More than likely it was also ‘single fired’, without the benefit of bisque firing.  This chawan is beautiful, capturing many moments of the forming, ‘glazing’ and firing process.  The inner and outer powers have become one in this amazing chawan.

I have been thinking about this bowl lately because I have been doing some dipped slip buncheong tea cups and tea bowls for my own work.  This is not something new for me but rather something I return to from time to time just to mix things up a little and try to keep myself fresh.
One of the things that has always bothered me about the "Powdery Matsudaira" is it has never really had the nuance characteristics of a slip.  That is why in my original post I said it was a "slip glaze".  The title of the piece uses the word "powdery" suggesting a slip was used.  The word 'buncheong' essentually means 'powder'.  But in creating buncheong slip ware, usually a clear glaze is placed over the slip causing the dark exposed clay to have a shine.   In nearly every book or writing on the "Powdery Matsudaira", it is categorized as a slip glazed or buncheong bowl.  Every Korean tea bowl artist who copies it uses slip with a clear glaze over it.  I wrote that it was a "slip glaze" because it didn't have the same 'feel' as other buncheong pieces that have clear glazes over them.
Recently, I was staying with our friend the potter Park Jong Il and his family in the mountains outside of Gyeongju, Korea.  One evening, we were just talking about pottery when I asked him if he thought the "Powdery Matsudaira" used a slip glaze?  It is a question that has bothered me for sometime.  His immediate reply was, "No, just a slip".  I responded,  "If it was just a slip why is there no shine on the dark portion of the bowl and why does it look more like a glaze?"  "Let's see."  Jong Il said.  With that statement he went to his books and pulled out a very large book in Japanese on tea bowls.  It was a remarkable book filled with amazing work and I hope to someday obtain a copy.  After searching for a few moments he exclaimed, "You're right!  It is a glaze."  Now I was at his side looking at a grouping of very large photos of the "Powdery Matsudaira" showing this bowl in clear detail like I had never seen it before.  It showed the bowl in many positions, foot, lip the bare pattern, everything.  But I was wrong, it was not a "slip glaze" it was glazed with a white porcelain glaze "paekcha" that was used like one would apply a slip!  Amazing!
What we read, clearly effects what we see.  What we think we know, based on years of experience and reading, can still perpetuate misinformation as readily as it can provide the truth.
I apologize for my earlier post on the "Powdery Matsudaira" suggesting that a 'slip glaze' was used.  But I am happy to provide this clarification as we move toward even more insight and clarity.
PS: I'm sorry I do not have an image of the "Powdery Matsudaira" from that large Japanese book nor would I have permission to post it if I did.  I do have permission to post the above photo and have inserted it twice as large as before.  Click on it to see the enlarged view and use the 'back' arrow to return to this blog.  Thanks for following us.

Added to the post:  12/5/2011

Because of the questions about this bowl, I decided to use Photoshop in an attempt to get a little closer to the images I saw in the Japanese book.  The first image is the traditional image.  It appears 'yellowed' by age.  The second image, altered by photoshop by removing some of the 'yellow', is much closer to the images I saw in the book mentioned above.  One may argue that the 'original' image should not be altered.  From seeing the new book, that 'original' image doesn't reflect the true nature of this piece.  In any case this is just a blog, not my doctorial dissertation on this bowl.  I'm simply attempting to present a clear and honest portrayal of the bowl as I now know it. 

      The original commonly used photo of The "Powdery Matsudaira".  

Compare the above photo to the next photo.

 The whiter image of the "Powdery Matsudaira" 

The above image is much closer to the images I saw in the teabowl book.

 

Comparing the color change I made

My apologies if this attempt at clarification is beginning to add confusion.

The following was added 11/24/2010:  

I am perplexed.  I have received a couple of comments and can't return a comment myself.  For some reason neither of my computers will allow me to comment on my own blogs.  So, I'll post a comment here until that can be corrected.  

Thanks for your comments.

It was impossible to mistake either the photos or the text found in this Japanese chawan book.  I had never before seen photos of the "Powdery Matsudaira" or any of the other tea bowls like the ones in this book.  Each photo was up close and included several photos of every chawan taken in good light with great detail.  In addition the text clearly states, in Japanese translated by Jong Il, that this bowl we know as the  "Powdery Matsudaira" was glazed with a Korean porcelain glaze.  It was neither a slip glaze, as I wrote originally, nor was it covered with a slip in any way.  It was simply glazed with a porcelain glaze.  This is particularly interesting to me because this bowl has been one of the standards for the buncheong process of dipping one's bowl in slip.  We had assumed that slip was used.  Books, articles and blog posts like my earlier one perpetuate that myth.  For my part, I'm sorry.  It didn't look right from the one photo I had.  As much as I want that bowl to be dipped into slip, as much as nearly everyone thought it had been dipped into slip, as much as it looks like old slip with the chipping on the lip and foot in the above photo, it is not slip.  If I'm able to obtain my own copy of that book I'll ask for permission to post some of the better photos here.  In the meantime, the additional highly detailed photos that I saw and text in that book answered my questions.  I hope I have answered yours.         

Han Dynasty Tea Bowl

May 16^th was the night of the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul so we planned our stay so that we would be in Seoul that night to enjoy it.  For sheer pageantry the events surrounding the Lotus Lantern Festival are probably unsurpassed in Korea.   A hundred thousand or more Buddhists from many countries come together to celebrate the coming of Buddha’s birthday by parading magnificent lanterns through the streets of Seoul.  (click images to enlarge)

But we would not witness the 2010 Lotus Lantern Festival.  We were otherwise engaged in a more exciting experience.

On our recent trip to Korea, to participate in the Mungyeong Chassabal Festival we stayed a little longer to tour Gangjin, Jirisan, Gyeongju and Seoul.  Gangjin and Jirisan are rich in their tea and tea histories and I’ll eventually be posting some of what we found about tea and tea history on my Morning Crane Tea blog.  Instead, for my first post since returning home, I think I should begin with something very early.  

It was in Jirisan that my friend Park Jong-Il introduced us to his tea teacher Kim Sung Tae.  Master Kim Sung Tae was leading a group of tea masters, potters and simply interested followers on an excursion that included making green and ddokcha teas the Chinese way.  Some of that experience will also eventually be found on my tea blog.  But more important, for this blog, Kim Sung Tae, is also a connoisseur of tea ware.  During his more than 300 visits to China in the last ten years he studied many of the ancient ways of making and preparing tea, and collected both Chinese tea and Chinese tea ware. In fact his knowledge and understanding of Chinese tea and Chinese tea ware is probably unsurpassed in Korea.  With more than 20,000 tea ware pieces, I can’t imagine any other collector (including major museums in Korea) that would have in their collection more (or a greater variety of) Chinese tea ware than Master Kim Sung Tae.  Who would have thought that we would find so much about Chinese tea in Korea?

For most of us in the Western world, when we think of teabowls, our minds think of Japan.  There are international exhibits where Western ceramic artists try to show how close they have come to expressing the qualities found in Japanese tea bowls.  In the process little thought is given to either China or Korea.  In reality, compared to China and Korea, Japan is a latecomer to tea and tea bowls.  Both China and Korea had teabowls, dawan or chawan hundreds of years before Japan and Japan owes much gratitude to both countries.  As I said in another post, one scholar said that removing Korea’s influence alone from Japan’s ceramics would be like removing all African Americans from the Jazz Hall of Fame.  If you also then removed China’s influence from Japan’s ceramics, very little if anything would be left.

There is an old saying, “Begin at the beginning.”  But who can really say what bowl the Chinese Emperor Shennong drank from in 2737 BCE when an errant tealeaf fell into his cup of hot water (or do you prefer another story of the beginning of tea). 

There was nothing errant about the glazing, decorating and firing of this Chinese tea bowl that reportedly dates as early as 150 BCE.  That puts this glazed bowl back to the early Western Han period (206 BCE-9 CE).  
I knew that an applied ash glaze was used in China quite early but seeing this ash glazed bowl in person was a shock.  Frankly I have not studied Chinese tea ware much - as most of my efforts have been focused on Korea and Japan.  I knew that Korea’s Three  Kingdom Period (57 BCE – 618 CE) had kilns that would reach the melting temperature of ash but seeing this simple Chinese ash glazed bowl - that Master Kim Sung Tae swears was most likely made for tea - still alive - blows my mind. 

By ‘alive’ I mean you can still feel the power of the potter in this piece.  The bowl is approximately 12 cm wide and 6 cm high; a perfect size for tea even today.  It fits the hand beautifully.  Obviously it was thrown on the wheel then decorated with a simple probably wooden rolling stamp that the potter in his haste inadvertently also touched to the rim of the bowl.  The clay for this bowl was not fully prepared.  A broken air pocket can be easily seen.  The ash glaze, most likely simply composed of ashes, was thinned with water then the bowl simply held and quickly dipped into the glaze.  The fingers, inside the bowl, left their mark forever.

In my mind I sat with this potter watching as he turned the heavy wheel, pulling it toward him with his right hand so that the wheel turned clockwise.*(see below)

This bowl was one of many that day, each formed alone from individual pieces of clay.  (It would probably be years later when many similar bowls would be formed from a single mound of clay.)  The rolled decoration was applied immediately, probably with a wooden wheel stamp that was held loosely attached to the end of a stick in one of several ways and rolled around the bowl before it was trimmed and then lifted from the wheel.**  But on this day there were many bowls formed then set aside to stiffen (not dry) and glazed. 
Grasped with two fingers on the inside, the bowl was quickly dipped in a simple thin glaze composed of ash and water.  As the freshly glazed bowl sat drying, at one point the potter picked the still wet bowl up again, moving it to make room for another bowl.  Thus four fingerprints are seen inside the bowl. 

The practice of glazing stiff but not fully dry ware continues for common utilitarian ware in Asia today.  Bisque firing before glazing came much later when glazing practices became more sophisticated. 

After sitting a few days to dry, the bowl was placed with many other items into a long slopping kiln and was fired with wood in a mostly oxidizing flame.  The slope helped the kiln to be very efficient as it reached nearly white heat – hot enough to melt the ash glaze. 

More than 2000 years later this simple tea bowl is still 'alive' and possesses many of the natural “touched by the potter” characteristics greatly desired by chawan connoisseurs today.  But this tea bowl was not used for a “tea ceremony”.  It was used to drink tea as a medicine – and most likely not a medicine to cure illness but to prevent illnesses from occurring.  Tea was then, and is today, perfect for Chinese medicine that focuses on the prevention of health problems, as much as rehabilitation, and turns to tea and other herbs for this purpose. 


*The Koreans and Europeans would add a flywheel to their potter’s wheel that allowed them to be kicked with the right foot away from the potter or ‘counterclockwise’.  Both directions are ‘right handed’, actually one is right handed the other right footed but in any case we should not refer to either direction as ‘left handed’.  They are simply directions for working with the wheel spinning in the direction most often used in ones country.  In the case of Korea the direction changes often, sometimes even with the same potter, depending on the wheel and whether or not they want their strongest hand inside or outside the vessel. 
**There are a couple of ways the wooden rolling stamp may have been applied while the pot was still on the wheel.  Both ways involve a wheel shaped wooden stamp with the decoration placed like treads on a tire.  The center of the wheel has a hole.  There are two methods, that I have seen used in Asia, used to hold the wheel.  The first is a simple stick with a nail on its end.  The wheel sits on the nail.  The second involves a "Y" shaped stick similar to a slingshot.   The rolling stamp is placed betwen the two prongs of the "Y" also held by a nail or wooden dowl.