Evergreen Bamboo Through the Four Seasons Embodied in Ceramics

On a porcelain jar from the late 15th or early 16th century, the painter bent each bamboo stem to follow the curve of the shoulder, then drew in the stems and leaf veins one by one in cobalt blue. Only a fragment of the jar survives, and it's one of the main pieces here.

This is a small display, 16 objects, set inside the Buncheong Ware and White Porcelain Gallery on the third floor of the permanent galleries. Joseon scholars read bamboo as a gentleman's integrity, so potters either painted it on or shaped the pot like the plant. You move from a 17th-century flask painted in iron brown instead of blue to 19th-century pieces moulded as bamboo joints.

It's free with no booking, and it runs until 31 January 2027. On Wednesdays and Saturdays the museum stays open until 9pm.