White Porcelain Table Ware with Inscription of “Subok”

Joseon Period (19th Century)

This complete set of white porcelain tableware (bansanggi) is a representative example of the finest ceramic production of the first half of the nineteenth century, the late Joseon period. Fully intact sets of gapbeon white porcelain of this quality and completeness are exceptionally rare. The fifteen pieces comprise rice bowls (banhap), soup bowls, side-dish plates, and soy sauce cups. On the exterior of each vessel, the characters su (壽, longevity) and bok (福, happiness) are applied in relief in alternating arrangement — an auspicious decorative program characteristic of the period. The glaze is a white porcelain glaze with a faint suffusion of pale blue, limpid and crystalline in tone. Traces of clay-mixed kiln supports remain on the foot rings. This set is presumed to represent the finest grade of porcelain — designated gapbeon, the highest quality classification — produced at the Bunwon, the government-operated porcelain manufactory located at Bunwon-ri in Gwangju during the first half of the nineteenth century. The exceptional completeness of this surviving set affords an invaluable and vivid record of the table culture and ceramic aesthetic of the period.