Moon-Shaped Porcelain, Back to the Simple 

Dahl-Hanhng-Ah-Ri is what the Koreans call the moon-shaped white porcelain from the 18th century Joseon Dynasty(' Dahl' means the moon, and ' Hahng-Ah-Ri ' means porcelain in Korean.) It was not until recently that the white-bodied earthenware of the 18th century drew attention from the public. Mr. Kim Hwan-ki, a Korean painter who led the movement of Modernism in the Korean fine art in mid-20th century, praised the beauty of white-bodied porcelain for the first time. He wrote : " I have not yet found any flaws in our Dahl-Hahng-Ah-Ris. They are all round, but not in the same way.  They are all white, but not in the same way. A white, unadorned globe glows with subtle, mysterious beauty.  Its tranquility embraces movement. Its earthen surface bears warmth within." Art has a tendency to get more complicated in its pattern with the change of time. However, an interesting exception to this trend can be found in Joseon 's Dahl-Hahng-Ah-Ri : back to the simple and natural .


Harmony of Potter's Will and Gravity 

When a potter starts making the upper part of a porcelain in a round form before the lower part is completely dried and hardened, the shape of the ware will collapse. Therefore, the potters of Joseon produced two bowl-shaped forms and then joined them together at their rims to make a shape of a globe . Therefore, every Dahl-Hahng-Ah-Ri differs in the roundness of their shape with the kneading mark in the middle. Korean people see imperfection of human beings reflected in Dahl-Hanhng-Ah-Ri and feel deep sense of connection to the earthenware.