A Comparative Study Of Korea And Chinese Blue And White Porcelain In The15^th Century

During the Joseon Period (15th century), Korea started to produce blue and white porcelain under the influence of Ming dynasty of China. In the thesis, topics which will be discussed are as follows:1) The origin of blue and white porcelain during the Ming dynasty2) the development and changes of blue and white porcelain during the Joseon Period3) Ming dynasty’s influence on the design and patterns of Joseon Period’s blue and white porcelain4) factors such as machineries, patterns and etc. that differentiates between Joseon’s and Ming dynasty’s blue and white porcelainWith regards to the origin of China’s blue and white porcelain, there are three different founding dynasties, namely Tang, Song and Yuan. In the Tang dynasty, the color blue which can be found in the "tangsancai" is said to consist cobalt which coincidentally is also the main material used in blue and white painting on porcelain. But according to<Jingdezhen Ceramic History>, during the end of the Southern Song dynasty, porcelain pieces had cobalt material which was used for decorations. Yet, another claim could be traced forward to the Yuan dynasty in Jingdezhen, where craftsman already knew the usage of cobalt as a material and where already using as decorations on greenish white glazes.We can say that the creation of blue and white porcelains comes from the Tang and Song dynasty and matured during the Yuan dynasty. With the foundation built during the Yuan dynasty, blue and white porcelain could therefore have a new development during the Ming dynasty.The influence of China’s Yuan and early Ming dynasties’blue and white porcelain pieces could be seen as early as late Goryeo period and early Joseon period of Korea. This influence from China could be significantly seen in the technique, materials used, machineries, patterns on the pieces and other fields in Korea. In this thesis we will discuss clay and glazes, color materials, shape design and patterns. The patterns found in the15th century Joseon Period, regardless of the kinds of patterns such as wave pattern, lychee pattern, row ring pattern, lotus flower petal pattern etc. has great similarities to China’s porcelain pieces.Regarding fifteenth century Joseon dynasty, the morphing of pattern design on porcelain works will be divided into3periods in this thesis:early Joseon dynasty (1410), mid-Joseon dynasty (1450) to late Joseon dynasty(1480) and lastly, late Joseon dynasty (1480) to the end of Joseon dynasty(1500). After the three different periods’ development and changes to the patterns and design of blue and white porcelain pieces, Korean’s blue and white porcelain finally had its own unique design and patterns which doesn’t have any traces of China’s influence.