White porcelain moon jar

White, round, plain: perhaps the first words that come to mind when seeing this porcelain jar. Elegant simplicity made this type of jar popular in Korea during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. White, minimalist forms were desired and praised during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). It symbolised the Neo-Confucian ideals of purity and integrity. When the Joseon royal house established Neo-Confucianism (a moral and ethical philosophy based on the teachings of Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BC) as the ruling ideology, white porcelain was adopted as imperial ware in the fifteenth century.

The jar is more than simply white, round and plain. The glaze on the white clay body gives it a faint and uneven blue tone. It is neither perfectly spherical nor symmetrical. The flatter mid-section shows the production method. After two semi-spheres are made, one is turned upside down and joined to the other. The horizontal seam in the middle is then smoothed over. There are small divots, bumps and cracks on the surface that have formed in the kiln during the firing.

The objects were referred to as moon jars (dalhang’ari) from the mid twentieth century because of their form, and because their shape and colour also changes when observed from different angles. Today, the moon jar has become an icon of Joseon art. Modern and contemporary artists have been inspired by the moon jars’ tranquil artlessness and have imitated its shape and used it as a motif.

Bernard Leach (1887–1979), known as the father of British studio pottery, purchased this moon jar in Seoul in 1935. He said owning it was like ‘carrying a piece of happiness’. In 1943 Leach asked Lucie Rie (1902–95), an eminent studio potter, to care for the moon jar for the rest of the Second World War. Leach then decided it belonged in her studio. It remained there until Rie’s death, after which it was bequeathed to Janet Leach. The Museum acquired it from Leach’s estate in 1999.