White Porcelain Jar with Grape Design

This white porcelain jar decorated with a grape design brushed in underglaze iron is 53.3 centimeters (20.9 inches) high, 19.4 centimeters in mouth diameter, and 18.6 centimeters in foot diameter.

In the Joseon Period (1392-1910), the royal court had a tradition of sending court painters to the ceramic kilns operated under its support to decorate the ceramic vessels produced here with their paintings.

Most of the decorations were painted in blue pigment, but there were other pigments, too: iron oxide, which made attractive black pigment, and copper oxide for red, in particular.

The grape design decorating the jar adds additional dignity to the pottery and, combined with its size and shape, makes it one of the finest examples of the white porcelain jars produced during the mid-Joseon period.

The aesthetic beauty of the jar is perfected with the grape design painted in iron oxide on the upper body thanks to the fruit with vines depicted in an immaculate, realistic manner and the masterful use of painting techniques, including the shading of a single color.