Celadon Daegeum: Peony Motif in Reverse Inlay

Those who choose this piece are drawn to works in which technical discipline, cultural memory and living function are inseparable.

"Here, celadon is asked not only to take the form of an instrument, but to carry breath and sound."

Celadon Daegeum: Peony Motif in Reverse Inlay is a functional ceramic daegeum created by Kwon O-hak, a recognised Master Ceramic Artisan of Icheon. Based on one of Korea’s traditional wind instruments, the work translates the long, restrained profile of the daegeum into celadon while preserving its capacity to be actually played. This distinction is fundamental: the piece is not simply a ceramic representation of an instrument, but an object in which ceramic structure and musical function had to be resolved together.

The challenge begins with the material itself. Clay contracts during drying and firing, and a long, slender body is especially vulnerable to bending, twisting and distortion under kiln heat. For a playable wind instrument, these changes are not merely visual concerns. The proportions of the tubular body and the positioning of its openings must remain sufficiently controlled after firing for the finished object to function as an instrument. Kwon therefore had to anticipate shrinkage with unusual precision, allowing for the behaviour of clay while preserving the long linear structure required by the daegeum.

Across this demanding form, the surface is articulated through reverse inlay, or yeoksanggam. Rather than defining the principal motif by cutting directly into it, the surrounding ground is removed and filled, allowing the original celadon body to remain as the image itself. The method reverses the usual relationship between motif and background. Peony blossoms, leaves and stems appear to emerge from the vessel’s own blue-green body, while the worked ground establishes a quiet tonal distinction around them.

This decision gives the decoration a particular spatial quality. The peonies do not sit upon the instrument as applied ornament; they appear held within its surface. In Korean visual culture, the peony has long carried associations of abundance, prosperity, honour and cultivated beauty. Its full blossoms provide an effective counterpoint to the severe horizontality of the daegeum: the instrument is governed by length and measured intervals, while the flowers unfold through curved leaves and expanding petals. One disciplines the other.

The colour is deliberately restrained. Soft celadon tones allow the floral pattern to be discovered gradually rather than announced from a distance, while small red accents create brief interruptions within the predominantly blue-green field. The fine crackled surface further softens the distinction between instrument and image, giving the glaze the appearance of something aged, settled and quietly alive.

Its extended form also changes the way the decoration is viewed. There is no single central image to absorb at once. The eye moves along the length of the instrument, passing the finger openings, raised structural divisions and continuing floral pattern. The work therefore asks to be read progressively, much as the instrument itself produces music through a sequence of breath, touch and measured position.

What ultimately distinguishes this daegeum is that its visual and musical identities are not separated. Kwon O-hak has not merely reproduced the appearance of a traditional Korean instrument in ceramic. He has asked fired clay to assume the responsibilities of an instrument — to preserve proportion, withstand firing, carry ornament and finally respond to human breath.

Dimensions

• Width- 70cm (27.56 inch)
• Depth- 3.3cm (1.3 inch)
• Height- 3.3cm (1.3 inch)

Related Links

• About Celadon

• Master Artisan’s Collection

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