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NATIONAL MUSEUM
- "Jingdezhen Qingbai Porcelain: The Beauty of Pure White Blooming in Blue"
October 16, 2007 - April 13, 2008
ㅇItems exhibited: 75 items, including a Qingbai porcelain pillow from the Sinan seabed Relics Site
A themed exhibition entitled “Jingdezhen Qingbai Porcelain: The Beauty of Pure White Blooming in
Blue,” will be held in the Sinan Seabed Relics Room in the Asian Arts Gallery of the National Museum
of Korea under the direction of Kim Hong-nam. This exhibition, on display from Tuesday, October 16th
to Sunday, April 13th, 2008, will showcase 75 items, including a Qingbai porcelain pillow recovered
from the Sinan seabed.
Qingbai porcelain, also known as shady-blue porcelain, was one of the most favored types of pottery
in China during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Its distinctive pattern of blue shadows against a white
background was meant to imitate the hue and texture of Qingbai jade and, its refined aura marks it
as a crowning achievement of Asian art.
Qingbai porcelain was first produced at the Jingdezhen kiln in Jiangxi Province at the height of the
Northern Song Dynasty. During the war between the Song and Liao Dynasties, a number of northern
potters fled south and, settled in Jingdezhen. By combining the merits of southern celadon and
northern porcelain they created the world-renowned Qingbai porcelain.
Qingbai porcelain was highly appreciated in China during the Song and Yuan periods. The purity and
elegance of the porcelain produced at the Jingdezhen kiln well-suited the Yuan fondness for the
color white. It attracted the interest of the court, establishing a pattern of imperial patronage
which would extend well into the Qing Dynasty.
Qingbai porcelain was highly appreciated in China during the Song and Yuan dynasty. Eventually its
fame spread abroad and large quantities also began to be exported, including the cache discovered on
the Sinan seabed.
This exhibition highlights several key aspects of Jingdezhen Qingbai porcelain, all of which are
displayed in the completely renovated Sinan Seabed Relics Exhibition Room. The exhibition space is
divided into distinct sections which discuss the use of food vessels, the spatial decoration of
ceramics, decoration techniques, the origin of the vessels’ names, and the refined sense of
aesthetic appreciation associated with ceramics.
The section dedicated to aesthetic appreciation, in particular, deals with several dramatic scenes
conveyed through ceramics. Among these, there is a dish with a poem which the great Tang poet, Du
Fu, composed about the transience of life intersecting nature as he passed by the grotto at Mt.
Maiji. The surface of the dish is lovingly decorated in accordance with the poem, including images
of a parrot pecking at a golden peach and sleeping musk deer. Museum guests may also appreciate a
thin dish designed like a red leaf detailing the love story between a court lady and a gentleman of
the Tang Dynasty. The exhibition also features a Qingbai porcelain pillow decorated to reference a
poem by the great Southern Song female poet, Li Qingzhao, in which, laying her head on her jade
pillow behind a silk curtain, she laments the loneliness of life in the inner chambers and longs for
her husband’s return.
(from the website of the museum)
NATIONAL MUSEUM
- "White Tiger, the Guardian Deity of the West"
January 8 - April 6, 2008
The National Museum of Korea (rep. by Kim Hong-nam) presents a special exhibition of Goguryeo's
four guardian deities under the tile, "Four Deities, Protectors of Tombs". Held at the Goguryeo Room
in the Hall of Archaeology as the fourth event under the theme, the exhibition guides visitors to
the world of baekho (white tiger). The exhibition shows various images of baekho collected from
Ssangyeongchong (Tomb of Double Columns), Suryeopchong (Tomb of Hunting Scene), the Jinpari Tomb No.
1 and the Great Gangseo Tomb.
Ancient Goguryeo tombs are famous for their mural paintings depicting the guardian deities
protecting the four cardinal directions. One of the four guardians, baekho as the guardian deity of
the west is conceived from the animal which has been so intimate with Korean people via various
mythologies, legends and folk tales. The early images of baekho are characterized by the head of a
tiger and the reptilian body comparable to that of the cheongnyong (blue dragon) which is marked by
a long neck, waist and tail. The image of the 6th century, however, exhibits a more powerful
supernatural figure with exaggerated mouth, protruded eyes, sharp teeth and front legs raised in
front of the body in a sinister manner. The new figure is often confused with that of cheongnyong,
the guardian deity of the east, but the shape of the head and the wavy stripes covering the body
reveals that it is the tiger protecting the west of the universe.
The early images of baekho show no distinctive difference from those of the cheongnyong, but its
increased importance in the mural paintings led to the organic harmony in its physical form oozing
mystical energy of an imaginary animal.
(from the website of the museum)
NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
- "금속공예 - The Metall Crafts in Shinan Wreck”
November 15, 2007 - January 20, 2008
Last modified: 15.07.2008