Arts of Korea: MFA Highlights

Arts of Korea invites readers to explore one of the finest collections of Korean art outside East Asia, in an enhanced e-book that features 360-degree photographs of selected treasures that can be rotated with the touch of a finger. The MFA enjoys particularly superb holdings of ceramics, including celadon masterworks from the eleventh to fourteenth centuries, as well as Buddhist paintings and sculptures, metalwork, lacquer, and ink painting. While some of the hundred objects drawn from these riches were created for royals and aristocrats, many others were originally intended for everyday use and tell a story not only about the artisans who made these boxes, mirrors, jars, tiles, and trays but also about the people who used them. The works represented in Arts of Korea reach in time from a Bronze Age dagger to contemporary ceramics and prints, highlighting the creative dialogue of artists with Korea’s unique traditions, as well as with those of China and Japan, over more than two millennia. Providing illuminating essays about the objects’ cultural history and enhanced with spectacular photography, this book offers an ideal introduction to the splendors and subtleties of Korean art.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jane Portal is Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Arts of Asia, Oceania, and Africa at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Suhyung Kim is Research Associate for Korean Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Hee Jung Lee is Library Assistant, Acquisitions, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.