White Porcelain Ink Rest with Chrysanthemum Design in Underglaze Cobalt Blue

Joseon Period (19th Century)

This rectangular ink stick rest (muksang) is supported on a foot that is cut with ansang (eye-shaped arch) motifs, and the sides are encircled by a band of incised thunder-pattern (뇌문) meander. Painted in underglaze blue, a sprig of unpretentious wild chrysanthemums extends in a long, unhurried line across the surface — a composition of quiet, crystalline elegance entirely in keeping with the spirit of the scholar's desk. The glaze is a white porcelain glaze with a faint suffusion of pale blue. Produced at the Bunwon-ri kiln during the first half of the nineteenth century, this ink stick rest stands as a refined and accomplished example of the scholarly desk objects associated with that celebrated manufactory.