This small exhibition at the British Museum in 2007 was when I first get excited about the Moon Jar. Moon Jars were made in Korea from the mid 17th to mid 18th century. They were large, white, porcelain storage jars. There are only twenty Moon Jars left in the world. They were thrown in two sections and then joined in the centre. This often left interesting marks around the tummy, and many did not survive the kiln firing. The slumping and warping were regarded as nature taking its course - serendipity.
The exhibition showed great numbers of modern Moon Jars being created, and then lots being destroyed after they had collapsed.
Photographer Koo Bohnchang was inspired by these photographs of Lucie Rie by Lord Snowden with her Moon Jar.
This Moon Jar is the one now owned by The British Museum. From their website...
" The jar also testifies to the admiration of two of the greatest twentieth-century British potters for Korean wares. It was bought in an antique shop in Seoul by Bernard Leach (1887-1979) in 1935, on one of his visits from Japan. He gave it to Lucie Rie (1902-95), who on her death bequeathed it to Janet Leach. The British Museum acquired it from her estate in 1999. They also acquired a letter from Bernard Leach to Rie, in which he asks her to collect the jar from a friend's house and look after it during the Second World War (1939-45). In the event, when Leach saw the jar in Rie's studio, he decided that it should remain there. A portrait by Lord Snowdon shows Rie, dressed all in white herself, seated beside the pot.”
He decided to find and photograph the world's remaining Moon Jars, culminating in a photography exhibition and book. I missed the book at the British Museum but managed to get a copy by emailing Koo Bohnchang. Love it.
See my last blog post about Adam Buick, a Welsh ceramicist who makes modern Moon Jars.
.jpg)
