Studio: international art (64.1915)

Studio-Talk

COREAN BRONZE BUDDHISTIC IMAGE (KUDARA
REGIME)

(Prince Li’s Collection)

bottles, jars, bowls, incense burners, were of a soft
and exquisite green. A water jar of fantastic shape
was particularly interesting as a technical triumph
in blue. There was also a beautiful tea bowl in the
mishimade style, so highly valued by connoisseurs.
The inside of the bowl was marked with the name
of the bureau which supervised the manufacture ot
such articles as oil and paper. In the great variety
of mishimade ware only a few articles can be
compared with this one in workmanship. There
was also a large Korai flower vase in the mishimade
style, although this style is generally confined to
small articles. The upper part of the vase was
decorated with the characteristic design of the
mishimade, and the lower part with karakusa moyo
(floral design), while the central part was adorned
with dragons and clouds. There were also other
interesting wares in black temmoku, persimmon
colour, blue, &c.

Corea has produced stone carvings of unusual
merit, especially in the Shiragi and Korai periods,
when this art seems to have reached its zenith.
Master stone-carvers were brought from China and
contributed much towards the development of this
branch of art in the country once known as the
Hermit Kingdom of the Far East. Buddhism was
introduced into Corea in the fifth century of the
Christian era—about two hundred years before it
crossed over to Japan and about three hundred
years after it was introduced into China. The
toleration extended to this religion did much to stir
the artistic aspirations of the Corean people. There
are some examples of plastic art belonging to the
Shiragi period, especially the earlier part of it, but
far better are those of the Sangoku period, though
these are extremely rare, even in Corea.

The exhibits comprised ten bronze Buddhistic

COREAN PORCELAIN WINE JAR (KORAI REGIME)
(Prince Li’s Collection)

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