Lot 1157: Park Youngsook (B. 1947)

Park Youngsook (B. 1947)
Moon Jar, 2003
Porcelain applied with transparent glaze, signed and dated on recessed base within raised foot in cobalt blue underglaze Park.03.9.
18¼ x 19½in. (46.4 x 49.5cm.)

Park maintains that in simplicity lies the power of art. She continues to experiment with firing techniques, glazes and forms. After twenty years of experimentation she has met the technical challenges of the classic Korean "Moon Jar," culminating in the immense jar offered here. To ensure that the jar does not collapse during the firing the potter must join the separately made halves of the vessel with precision and maintain painstaking control over the reduction firing at over 1300C. For an eighteenth-century prototype of the jar, see lot 1131. Then, as now, the moon jar is appreciated for its resonance with the ideals of purity and harmony.

Park grew up in Gyeongju, the heartland of ancient Korean culture. She started her studio in Gyeonggi-do in 1979. A commercial kiln purchased by her husband in 1982 proved a turning point in her work. The artist now lives in Seoul. She has exhibited at the Gallery Korea, Korean Cultural Service, New York, in 1983 and at Ueda Gallery, Tokyo, in 1987 and 1991. She opened Gallery Pahk in New York in 2002. The artist's work is in the British Museum, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the Korean Consulate, New York.