Maebyeong (Korean Meiping)

[peterp]

Maebyeong (Korean Meiping), Goryeo period 13-14th century.

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I found a vase similar in my book by " korea's Pottery Heritage Vol II "  12th century, it the book it is described as a White Porcelain Maebyoung vase with inlaid Celadon 12 century, apparently they discovered shards of white porcelain in Puan in 1938, if your vase is authentic it would be worth a lot of money.

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I would like to point out a couple of things, the decoration would be inlayed, the decoration would have been carved into the body and then a white slip applied in the carved areas, the white slip was iron rich and then different colors of clay,  from white, red or black was applied in the carved areas, and then fired, the colors would have been formed after firing, the examples in my book are from the 12th - 14th centuries, comparing yours from the ones in my book look a little different, the lotus petals at the bottom on yours looks like finger impressions around the lotus petals, are they painted on or are they inlayed, the ones in the book are some what smooth, also there seems to be a high shine, where the Maebyeong vases in the book are not so high of a shine, reading a book dose not make me an expert in no way but as you have taught me to pay attention to details, I hope this is Authentic, that would be an incredible find.

[peterp]

The black and white colors are indeed inlaid here, but this is often only visible with a magnifier. The petals around the base have sometimes black contour lines, but not with this one. Meipings of that period with a light celadon color seem to often have a relatively shiny vitreous layer, and often they have discolored, yellowish glaze areas on shoulders and near the base, and sometimes numerous firing faults, especially in the lower part, near the base, where the celadon is not covering the body. By the look of it either there might have been something combustible on the body which then evaporated during firing, removing the glaze, or some other firing related problems. It is unlikely from finger impressions as they are they often are too numerous and too small in size. We rarely encounter Chinese porcelain that has so many  problems.
There are other celadon color types which show lots of crackling and a more dull celadon. The foot rim usually shows traces of irregular shaped firing supports, which look as if they may  just have been shaped single cones or balls which then were stuck them on the rim. They have irregular shapes. Another rim type of smaller items is full of coarse kiln grit, showing neither glaze nor clay.
All this only relates to the Goryeo period. Joseon period items are quite different and I do not collect them because they are difficult to date, and it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between these and those that were made in the same style in the 20th century.
Korean pottery has quite different aging characteristics, and it appears even shipwreck items often are in top condition, not covered with the usual growth that is seen in tropical waters.
Some items of that period clearly show that there was an interchange between Korean and Chinese kilns. With some celadon items the only difference between Chinese and Korean items is the different bottom.

[peterp]

The early Korean celadons, although different, are not that difficult to understand if one has basic knowledge on the Yue, Yaozhou and Longquan kilns of the Yuan and Song dynasties, but some products are quite different nonetheless. I'm just wondering why Chinese kilns did not copy the inlay technique when they must have know about it, judging by the shipwrecks carrying wares from both sides.

[peterp]

This is the bottom of a different item of about the same period. It shows the support traces. Does not look like anything resembling the stilts used in Chinese kilns. This type of firing support traces are common and they disappeared only later in the Joseon dynasty, it seems.

[peterp]

This is of the same period. Dull vitreous layer. Apparently in used condition and possibly excavated.
The interior image shows an embedded decoration.

The items in this introduction might be of interest:  tinyurl.com/y6htkvch

[Stan]

Thanks Peter for the information and nice items, very rare.