Moon Jars, Luminous and Graceful, Are Entrancing Modern Ceramists

THE TRADITIONAL KOREAN moon jar - a large, rounded vessel glazed with an opaline sheen - has been a much-celebrated object for centuries. Historically made from baekja, a porcelain of refined white kaolin clay, moon jars rose to prominence in the late 17th century, a time when the country's neo-Confucian ideals inspired an aesthetic preference for austerity, clarity and understated elegance. The pale, simple orbs - made from two wheel-spun halves joined together, the seam between them smoothed to a faint yet indelible meridian - represent a balance between technical ingenuity and chance. As important are the irregularities, which speak to the piece's handmade quality: an errant scattering of ash or debris, for example, or a subtle tinge of light blue, brown or rust.