The Korea collection

Jug with lid in melon form, earthenware with incised Celadon overglaze, height 19 cm, Goryeo dynasty, 12th century © NRICP

Bowl with litchi and chrysabthemum design, earthenware with inlaid slip decoration and Celadon overglaze, height 8, 5 cm, Goryeo dynasty, early 13th century © NRICP

Storage jar with dragon design, blue underglazed porcelain, height 42, 5 cm. Joseon dynasty, 18th century © NRICP

Beveling jar with grape design, red underglazed porcelain, height 21, 3 cm, Joseon dynasty, first half of 19th century © NRICP

Jug in gourd form with restiform handle, earthenware with blue Celadon overglaze, nozzle restorated with gold lacquer, first half of 12th century © NRICP

Korean pottery is well represented in the collection, with more than 70 items. Most is celadon (greenware) of the 12th and 13th centuries. Its greenish, bluish or pale-grey glaze was inspired by the ware of the Chinese Wu-Yue dynasty (907–978) from south-east China. The Korean potters, however, modified both the form and the glaze, developing, from the second half of the 12th century, a new technique using a clay slip (sanggam). The museum also possesses 18th-century porcelain, for example a storage pot painted in cobalt blue, which was probably made in the royal factories. According to Korean experts, our collection is among the best in Europe.

Buddha Vairocana accompanied by Bodhisattva Manjusri and Samanthabadra, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, 123 x 82 cm, Goryeo dynasty (918-1392), 14th century © NRICP

Water and moon Guanyin (Suwol Gwaneum Bosal), hanging scroll, ink, color and gold on silk, Goryeo dynasty (918-1392), 14th century © NRICP

Scenes from the life of Buddha: the beginnings. Fourth of eighth hanging scrolls, ink, color and gold on silk, 148 x 105 cm, Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), 15th/16th century © NRICP

In Korea, it was difficult at the start of the 20th century to acquire Buddhist painting. Many pictures had been stolen during the military campaign (1592–1598) of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and taken to Japanese temples. One particularly fine piece, which Fischer bought in Japan, assuming it to be Japanese and not Korean, is the Bodhisattva ‘Water-Moon Guanyin’, which stands out through its elaborate decor and translucent veil. Among the paintings of the middle of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1911), the picture ‘Scenes from the Life of Buddha: the Departure’, dating from the late 15th century, stands out. During this period, the Korean rulers turned away from Buddhism and adopted the state philosophy of Neo-Confucianism from China. Increasingly, Buddhism moved into the private sphere, where it was practised in particular by the female members of the court, and by broad sections of the public.

Courtly meeting in the western garden, Songam (active during 18th century), eight-fold screen, ink and light colors on paper, 133, 4 x 518 cm, signature: “painted by Songam, written by Chosa”, Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), dated 1794, bought with the help of the Association of the Friends of the museum © NRICP

Detail: Mi Fu writes on a stone wall © NRICP

Detail: Literati are painting and creating calligraphy © NRICP

Detail: Guests are arriving in the western garden © NRICP

Munja-do, characters for “honour” (yeom) and “decency” (ye). Ink and color on paper, 59,5 x 33,7cm and 59,6 x 33,4 cm, Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), 19th century, donated by Kurt Brasch © NRICP

Munja-do, characters for “honour” (yeom) and “decency” (ye). Ink and color on paper, 59,5 x 33,7cm and 59,6 x 33,4 cm, Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), 19th century, donated by Kurt Brasch © NRICP

Courtly meeting in the western garden, Songam (active during 18th century), eight-fold screen, ink and light colors on paper, 133, 4 x 518 cm, signature: “painted by Songam, written by Chosa”, Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), dated 1794, bought with the help of the Association of the Friends of the museum © NRICP

The painting of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1911)reflects the taste of the educated elite (yangban), which was characterized by Neo-Confucianism and the study of classical Chinese literature. Accordingly, the upper class held the ideal of Chinese scholar-painting in high regard, preferring monochrome ink painting. ‘Scholar Riding a Donkey’ is a good example. The subject stands for the virtuous Confucian civil servant, who prefers solitude to a corrupting political career. The screen ‘Elegant Assembly in the Western Garden’ illustrates scenes of a Chinese scholar assembly said to have taken place in 1088. Famous literary figures met in the Western Garden to devote themselves to the elegant pursuit of poetry, painting and writing, as well as making music and disputation. The beholder enters the garden from the right along with the arriving guests (detail). The fourth panel shows the calligrapher Mi Fu (1051–1107) wielding his brush against a rock face (detail), while the following scenes present famous scholars writing and painting (detail). A broad band of cloud frames the composition at the top, and bears an inscription dated 1794, which quotes the Chinese text with the description of the ‘Elegant Assembly in the Western Garden’. The painter is identified as one Songam, who is to be placed on stylistic grounds in the orbit of the court painter Kim Hong-do (1745–1806).

The genre of vernacular painting executed in glowing mineral colours (minhwa) is represented by works from the estate of Kurt Brasch, and exemplified by pictures with depictions of symbols of good luck, material wellbeing, and long life, which appear in combination with the stylized characters representing the Confucian virtues.

Malttugi, Kim Pong-jun (born 1954), woodblock print, 61 x 46 cm, Southern Korea, undated, ca. 1980’s, bought with the help of the Association of the Friends of the museum © RBA

Old man, Chang Woo-soung (1912-2005), ink and colors on paper, 108 x 69, 5 cm, Southern Korea, 1981, donated by the artist © NRICP

In Korean art history, Modernism begins with the Japanese colonial period starting in 1910. In 1911, Korea’s first art academy opened, the ‘Institute for Calligraphy and Art’ (Sohwa Misulhoe). For the first time, the word for art was used in the name of an institution. Among its graduates were Yi Sang-bom (1897–1972) and Kim Eun-ho (1892–1978), who in the following decades became highly influential exponents of Modernism. From the 1950s, the Korean art scene opened up to the various international currents. Chang Woo-soung (1912–2005), one of the leading pupils of Kim Eun-ho, was famous for his figure-painting using sketchily executed outlines. The pictutre ‘Old Man’ stands out with its pastel tones and balanced composition.

With the support of the Circle of Friends, the museum acquired a job lot of Minjung (or vernacular) woodcuts in the 1980s. They reflect the world of the Korean workers and farmers, which was characterized by social and political tensions, the result of rapid industrialization and strict military rule. The woodblock prints take up these themes, and, stylistically, follow the social-critical works of woodcut artists such as Lu Xun (1881–1936) and Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945).

Mirror with a design of a dragon tree and a pavilion, bronze, diameter 21 cm, Goryeo dynasty (918-1392), 11th/12th century © NRICP

Sutra container, bronze, height 21,1 cm, diameter 8, 2 cm, Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) © NRICP

Bowl with lid of a Buddhist priest, tin bronze, height 15 cm, Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) © NRICP

During the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), Buddhism flourished as the state religion. Testifying to this are the ritual objects of bronze, such as a sûtra container to hold copies of Buddhist texts made by the faithful in order to accumulate merit. The simple formal beauty of Goryeo-period bronzes can also be admired in the thinly hammered-out alms-dishes for monks. A lot acquired in 2005, including a water jug of the kundika type, used to sprinkle purifying water prior to Buddhist ceremonies, replaced losses suffered in the war.

Presentation box for a wedding (yemulham), wood, black laquer, inlaid mother of pearl, horn with underpainting and brass wire, hinges and lock fitting of brass, 15,7 x 19,8 x 28,5 cm, early Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), 15th century, donated by a Cologne industrial firm © NRICP

Presentation box for a wedding (yemulham), wood, black laquer, inlaid mother of pearl, horn with underpainting and brass wire, hinges and lock fitting of brass, 15,7 x 19,8 x 28,5 cm, early Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), 15th century, donated by a Cologne industrial firm © NRICP

Toiletry box (bitcheop or gyeonggap), pine, black and transparent lacquer, mother or pearl inlays, engraved fittings and hinges of brass, 31 x 27, 6 x 27,3 cm, middle Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), late 17th to early 18th century © NRICP

Boy with Phoenix (dongka), colored wood, height 92 cm, middle Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), late 17th/18th century © NRICP

Boy with Phoenix (dongka), colored wood, height 92 cm, middle Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), late 17th/18th century © NRICP

Photograph of the korean collection displayed in the previous museum at Hansaring (1913-1944) © RBA

The earliest and best-known Korean lacquer item in our possession is a gift-box for a wedding (yemulham) dating from the 15th century. Werner Speiser acquired the piece in the early 1960s from the acclaimed art dealer Mayuyama Ryûsendô in Tokyo. The decor, of mother-of-pearl and horn with underpainting, like the brass wires, is inlaid in the black lacquer ground. The two phoenixes identify the box as a wedding gift. Filled with jewellery, it was presented to the bride by the groom.

The only important wood sculpture in the collection is the figure of a ‘boyish servant’ (dongja) of the 17th or 18th century. Dongja were depicted with childlike bodily proportions and facial features, and belonged to the retinues of Buddhist deities. Our example is carrying a phoenix like a toy in both hands up to his chest; it was probably one of a large group of dongya, each holding a different animal symbolizing one of the five points of the compass.