Detail

`The Ministry of Communications will issue a 40-won price regular postage stamp on September 1, a fourth stamp in gravure photo printing, with a design featuring a porcelain of the Yi dynasty. This porcelain, presumed to be a product during the period of the 17th and the 18th century, is 53.3 cm high with bulged part of the body measuring 43.3 cm in diameter, and is shaped like a large jar. It is reputed as one of the finest handicraft work of the Yi dynasty for the beautiful picture drawn on the body. Designated as national cultural treasure No. 107, it is now preserved in the museum of the Ewha Women`s University, Seoul. The porcelain ceramics of the Yi dynasty whose origin dates back to the Koryo dynasty, had developed its own sophisticated techniques and beauty while being influenced by that of the Myong dynasty and had become a backbone of the ceramic handicraft during the five hundred years of the Yi dynasty. In contrast to the nobleness characteristic to the porcelain of the Koryo dynasty, the beauty of the Yi dynasty porcelain were generally tainted with simple and homely tone, expressing the scenery and national feeling in a quite natural way. Particularly the translucent and serene whiteness of the porcelain represents this nation`s traditional preferrence for simple color, which along with the designs and patterns manifesting the innocency and pathos of the nation, is a keynote of the handicraft artwork of the Yi dynasty.`