The Moon Jar: Joseon's Simple, Perfect White

Full transcript

Annyeong, yeoreobun! It's Yul. Look at this. It's big, it's round, and it's white. That's it. And somehow, it's one of the most loved objects in Korean art. This is the moon jar, in Korean, dalhangari.

It comes from the Joseon dynasty, mostly the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Joseon was a kingdom that loved Confucian values: honesty, modesty, and simple beauty. No gold, no flashy colors. Just pure white porcelain, like a full moon.

Here's the secret. A jar this big was really hard to make on one potter's wheel. So the potters made two big bowls, the top half and the bottom half, and joined them together in the middle. That's why if you look closely, the jar is not perfectly round. It leans a little. It bulges a little. And that's exactly why people love it. It looks relaxed, a little imperfect, a little human.

In the kiln, the color could turn milky white, or slightly blue, or a bit yellowish, depending on the fire. So every moon jar has its own personality. Kind of like the members of a K-pop group.

Today, moon jars are famous all over the world. Modern artists paint them, designers copy their shape, and when old ones appear at international auctions, the prices can be enormous.

Yul's tip! Find the white porcelain room on the third floor. Stand a little far away from the moon jar and look at it like you're looking at the real moon. Then step close and find the line in the middle, where two halves became one. That line is my favorite part.