434 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



MARINE AND FISHERIES. 

 FRESH-WATER FISHING. 



Cant hook (Sangj-sun-que-nun-soe). Wrought-iron hook pivoted to 

 an u])iiglit iron fastening into a socket in the end of a pole. The 

 lower end of the hook is formed into a ring, to which a cord was 

 attached. Superior iron work. 



Length, 5^ inches. 



Seoul, Korea. 151602 



Collected by P. L. .Tony. 



Used on the Han River for dragging- tish out of a net. 



MANUFACTURES AND OTHER ELABORATIVE INDUSTRIES. 

 POTTERY AND ITS MANUFACTURE — THE CERAMIC ART. 



Korea, now known to the Koreans as Cho-son, was formerly called by 

 them Korai. The Kingdom of Korai ceased to exist just live hundred 

 years ago; during its existence the potter's art flourished. The best 

 ware was made at the city of Song-do, the ancient capital. After the 

 foundation of the Kingdom of Cho-son, the i^eople of Seoul, the new 

 capital, and the people of Song-do were for a long time bitter enemies 

 during the civil war about the year 1400. From this cause the manu- 

 facture of i)ottery at Song-do declined until the flapanese invasion of 

 1597, when the work ended on the trausplanting of the potters to Japau, * 

 and may be said to never have been resumed at that city. 



"The pottery in common use in Korea at the present time consists 

 of three kinds; the finest of white, pale buff, or bluish porcelain, some- 

 times decorated in blue and with a high glaze, is used for the table and 

 consists of dishes, bowls, and bottles, also wash basins; the second 

 quality is a pale-yellow ware, glazed, mostly made iuto bowls, un- 

 decorated and used by the poorer classes. * * * The third style of 

 pottery is of the commonest kind, nnide of dark l)rown or reddish earth, 

 is glazed inside and out, and has little or no decoration except a wavy 

 line produced by wiping oti" the glaze, leaving the lighter under surface 

 to show through."* 



Color de(,'()ration on Korean pottery was revived about ten years ago. t 



Mainly the heavier forms survive; the source of these wares are the 

 tombs, in which it was customary from time immemorial to place pot- 

 tery for the use of the ancestral spirits. While the better class of ware 

 was not generally buried, it is probable that the tombs of the kings, 

 which date back over three thousand years (Soh), and are well known 

 in KiH'ea, contain materials for the history of art in the peninsula, and 

 may prove that porcelain was invented by Korean potters. 



* P. L. .Jouy : Korean Mortuary Pottery. Smithson. Rept. li, 1888, p. 591. 

 t P. Lowell : Choson, p. 171. 



