Famed Art Collector Kim Ki-ryun introduces many rare art works

By Culture-Art Editor Joy Cho

Founder Kim ki ryun
Founder Kim ki ryun

Famed Korean art collector Kim Ki-ryun (known as Bobby Kim among the English-speaking friends) is widely known among art lovers in Korea as one who has rare arts works, of which no one can dare estimate the prices of his  possessions. Bobby Kim is himself known among the art collectors in Korea as an art museum himself with hundreds or thousands of rare art works of Korea, China and Japan. 

The Korea Post recently interviewed Art Collector Kim who has collected antiques and paintings from these countries spanning generations.
Bobby Kim has numerous national treasures of these countries and also has a collection of invaluable artworks. Bobby Kim decided to release his artwork for readers of The Korea Post. Excerpts from the interview follow:

From the left, Blue Gold and Silver Enamel, Great Qing Dynasty Qianlong 15th year (H 27.5cm * D 9cm); Red Glaze Five Gate Crown, Great Qing Dynasty Ongjeong 6th year (H 43cm); Blue and White Glaze Phoenix Paint With Led, Great Ming Dynasty ga jeng 6 years(H 55cm * D 23cm).
From the left, Blue Gold and Silver Enamel, Great Qing Dynasty Qianlong 15th year (H 27.5cm * D 9cm); Red Glaze Five Gate Crown, Great Qing Dynasty Ongjeong 6th year (H 43cm); Blue and White Glaze Phoenix Paint With Led, Great Ming Dynasty ga jeng 6 years(H 55cm * D 23cm).

Question: Please introduce yourself for the readers of The Korea Post.
Answer:
I didn't study China or major in art.
However, my parents collected Chinese antiques since I was young. I think I opened my eyes to Chinese painting in the process of collecting them.
I'm an entrepreneur, a collector who loves art, and an ordinary person who loves art. 

Q: We hear that you have many rare Chinese antique art works in Korea. Among them, we hear that you have many unique and historical works that are like national treasures. Please introduce the history and opportunity of your collection of these art works.
A:
On the background of Chinese antiques inherited from my father, I ran an airline in Jongno in the 1960s and started exchanges with China.
At that time, exchanges with China were not smooth.
Also, in China, due to the late former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong's nationalist policies, people who had a lot of Chinese cultural heritage were branded as traitors and therefore they were forced to dump their antiques on the streets.

At that time, I went back and forth between Korea and China and brought in containers of Chinese antiques to Korea which ordinary citizens wanted to sell.
Among them are treasure-class works that were used in the national imperial family.
During the Goryeo Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty had 80 years of influence over Goryeo.
During the Goryeo Dynasty, people who did not have grain paid ceramics instead of grain as tax.
There are about 260 items in the Shanghai Museum, 100 items in the Shenyang Liaoning Province Museum, and 60 items in the Mongolian Museum in China.

During the Korea-Japan War, Japan stole so many artifacts from Korea.
It is known that there have been a lot of barter between the relics lost to Japan and the Chinese relics.

From the left, Imperial Family Used Double Ears Of Deers And Horns , Northern Song Seonhwa 5 years (H 39cm * D 14cm); Blue Glaze Bottom Dragon and Flower Paint Porcelean, Great Ming Dynasty calendar 6 years (H 42cm * D 14cm); Enamel Beauty Figures Are Also Gourds (all in one), Great Ming Dynasty Qianlong 8th year (H 16.5cm * D 5.5cm). 
From the left, Imperial Family Used Double Ears Of Deers And Horns , Northern Song Seonhwa 5 years (H 39cm * D 14cm); Blue Glaze Bottom Dragon and Flower Paint Porcelean, Great Ming Dynasty calendar 6 years (H 42cm * D 14cm); Enamel Beauty Figures Are Also Gourds (all in one), Great Ming Dynasty Qianlong 8th year (H 16.5cm * D 5.5cm). 

Q: We hear that you were going to open a gallery to show the world your works you have. Please introduce the progress so far made in your preparation and other related details.
A:
Up until now, I have enjoyed the appreciation of more than 20,000 works by myself.
Now, the gallery has been opened to give opportunities to those who want to own these works by opening it to the world.
I opened the gallery to share China's cultural heritage that people around the world can enjoy.

From the left, Nokwha Ssangi Changgwiyoung. Chinese tea culture and daily life ofdrinking tea are also contained in ceramics. The color of tea that theChinese love is green. The green beauty is alive in this pottery. It can besaid to be an exquisite combination of elephant-shaped handles; Daecheong Geonryung Year's Festival Hongyu Myogeum YongmunBae Byeong. This pottery has a splendid and precious beauty of brass,nickel, and bronze and a long history. If you look closely at this work, itis not a dragon's painting. Nickel and brass were placed upside downfrom the bottom of the ceramic, and brass, nickel and bronze weremelted and poured to make it a painting; A boy on horseback made of earthenware during the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Youcan feel the history of China for 3,000 years, and you can see the power of Qin Shi Huang and his influence.
From the left, Nokwha Ssangi Changgwiyoung. Chinese tea culture and daily life ofdrinking tea are also contained in ceramics. The color of tea that theChinese love is green. The green beauty is alive in this pottery. It can besaid to be an exquisite combination of elephant-shaped handles; Daecheong Geonryung Year's Festival Hongyu Myogeum YongmunBae Byeong. This pottery has a splendid and precious beauty of brass,nickel, and bronze and a long history. If you look closely at this work, itis not a dragon's painting. Nickel and brass were placed upside downfrom the bottom of the ceramic, and brass, nickel and bronze weremelted and poured to make it a painting; A boy on horseback made of earthenware during the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Youcan feel the history of China for 3,000 years, and you can see the power of Qin Shi Huang and his influence.

Q: Tell us briefly about the gallery opening.
A:
The name of the gallery will be Khan Gallery. "Khan" is a word that refers to kings and rulers in the Middle Ages and was chosen as the best match for Chinese antiques. 
I chose Khan Gallery, which has a meaning of standing at the top of the world. Khan Gallery will be a place to exchange China's national treasure-class cultural heritage for Korea's treasure-class heritage at the request of the home country. 
Through this, I am sure that Korea will have an opportunity to regain our lost art.

Q: What are the artworks you cherish and love the most? What era are they from?
A:
I am very attached to works even on weekends, taking out each collection and cleaning it. I remember all the 10,000 pieces. I cherish all the works and I'm attached to them. Let me introduce the ceramics that I cherish a lot.

1. Daecheong Geonryung Year's Festival Hongyu Myogeum Yongmun Bae Byeong
This pottery has a splendid and precious beauty of brass, nickel, and bronze and a long history.
If you look closely at this work, it is not a dragon's painting.
Nickel and brass were placed upside down from the bottom of the ceramic, and brass, nickel and bronze were melted and poured to make it a painting.
Along with the unique technique, the molding technique can be said to be excessively amazing.
2. A boy on horseback made of earthenware during the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.
You can feel the history of China for 3,000 years, and you can see the power of Qin Shi Huang and his influence.

From the left, Blue and White Porcelain Chrysanthemum Patterned Large Plum, Great Ming Dynasty Hongwu 6 years (H 63.5cm); Blue and White Porcelain PomegranatePatterned Double-Edged Bottle, Great Ming Dynasty Wanli 43 years (H 28.5cm * D 13cm); Black Glaze Powdered Elephant Door Pair Window Bottle, Great Ming Dynasty Yongzheng 6th year (H 44cm * D 13.5cm).
From the left, Blue and White Porcelain Chrysanthemum Patterned Large Plum, Great Ming Dynasty Hongwu 6 years (H 63.5cm); Blue and White Porcelain PomegranatePatterned Double-Edged Bottle, Great Ming Dynasty Wanli 43 years (H 28.5cm * D 13cm); Black Glaze Powdered Elephant Door Pair Window Bottle, Great Ming Dynasty Yongzheng 6th year (H 44cm * D 13.5cm).

It is recognized as the artistic and academic value of earthenware excavated from the soil.
This earthenware is China's representative artwork that can be returned at any time when requested by the Chinese government. Koreans have kept precious and historical works from China. It is worth seeing the only Chinese history that Korea does not have.
3. Nokwha Ssangi Changgwiyoung.
Chinese tea culture and daily life of drinking tea are also contained in ceramics.
The color of tea that the Chinese love is green. The green beauty is alive in this pottery.
It can be said to be an exquisite combination of elephant-shaped handles.
You can see a purple pattern, which left a natural phenomenon on the surface of the ceramic in which glaze reacted to heat in the kiln.
It is the height of the splendor as if watching a chorus of numerous jewels where you can taste of peeping at the traces of time through a special microscope.

It's a ritual ritual ritual ritual for the Chineseemperor.
It's a ritual ritual ritual ritual for the Chineseemperor.

Q: Please introduce your future plans through the Khan Gallery. 
A:
Khan Gallery will make a great public appearance during the first half of this year.
The world will know that Korea and China, which were influenced by each other through these Chinese antiques, have had a profound impact on the world's art history. Finish: I hope that Korea and China will develop more friendly through the endless development of Khan Gallery and Chinese art.

Historical Process of Chinese Pottery and Characteristics by Period

1. Historical process
Korea and China are close neighbors who have shared a 5,000-year history geographically and culturally.
Although there was an intermittent disconnection period, the two countries have been actively cooperating in various fields of politics, economy, and culture since the establishment of Korea-China relations in 1992.
In this natural history process, the inflow of Chinese culture into Korea was very natural.
Therefore, Chinese relics scattered in Korea can be found as high-quality resources like the exhibits of world famous museums.

The important collections of the "Kan Gallery" are bronzeone and ceramics of the period of ancient Chinese commerce (BC16~BC11th century), the period of Western Zhou (BC11~BC8th century), and the period of Warring States (BC8~BC3rd century), the period of Western Han (BC206~AD25), etc. 
Among them, 10 national (national treasure) relics and 100 progressive class are representative, including 2,000 bronze flags and "Seoju Hyo-sik Cheongdong-jun area (a pair of real-life liquor bottles in Seoju-si, 44.0cm each)."
Khan Gallery has been reborn as a museum with 20,000 artifacts from the Tang and Song dynasties, Yuan dynasties, Ming dynasties, and Qing dynasties, where ceramic appears after the pottery era.
I can assure you that it is more abundant and qualitatively superior to any other national-private museum in the world except for China and Taiwan, the origin of Chinese ceramics.

From the left, Jang Gyeong-Byeong of Namji Tomb, Great Qing Dynasty Qianlong 8th year (H25cm * D8cm); YuriHong 8 Octagonal Door-Shaped Hawk Bottle, Yuan Dynasty 22 years (H 52cm * D 13.5cm); Green Tea Milk Double Elephant Bottle, Great Qing Dynasties 4th year (H 50cm * D 14cm). 
From the left, Jang Gyeong-Byeong of Namji Tomb, Great Qing Dynasty Qianlong 8th year (H25cm * D8cm); YuriHong 8 Octagonal Door-Shaped Hawk Bottle, Yuan Dynasty 22 years (H 52cm * D 13.5cm); Green Tea Milk Double Elephant Bottle, Great Qing Dynasties 4th year (H 50cm * D 14cm). 

Therefore, the think that our Khan Gallery needs to play a pioneering role in specialized materials and consultations to shape our collection into a framework.
Rather, this new paradigm shift can provide cultural content that radiates oriental culture properly, satisfy the quality of the audience, and have significant promotional effects such as corporate cultural protection and citizens' awareness of corporate image.
Therefore, this "Kan Gallery" aims to play a role in establishing a cultural desire system for visitors and art lovers by building a large museum of Chinese relics specialized in Korea.

2. Characteristics by period
1) Tang Dynasty (618-907)
Following the tradition of the Su Dynasty (581-618), ceramics of the time blossomed in ceramic art according to social stability and economic prosperity, and the former motive (bronze) began to replace them with porcelain, and new forms such as tea utensils and liquor pots emerged, and the colored era came. When the famous Dangsamchae appeared, Dangsamchae was a low-temperature ceramic with three or more colors and mainly used colors such as green, navy, yellow, and white.

From the left, Blue and White Doule Dragons Flat Vase Porcelain, Early Yuan Dynasty 5 years (H39.5cm * D 25cm); YuriHong Fish Print Two Ears Bottle, Early Yuan Dynasty (H 28cm * D 11cm); Blue and White Porcelain ChrysanthemumPattern Twin Bottles, Great Qing Dynasty Geonlyung 8th year (H 24.5cm * D 6.5cm).

2) Song Dynasty (960-1279)
The Song Dynasty achieved a considerable level in culture and art while politically checking the northern peoples. By criticizing foreign culture, pottery is also transformed from its former splendor to a noble, simple, and calm atmosphere. A beautiful Cheongbaekja named Yeongcheong appeared.
The main ceramics were the five major classes, Jeongyo, Gyunyo, Yeoyo, Kayo, and Gwanyo.

3) Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)
Following the Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty's porcelain faced an era of great innovation for perfection, and an era in which ceramics were mass-produced by taking advantage of technology.
The former porcelain began to produce clean white porcelain by mixing kaolin with Taeto.
This is the famous “Woncheongwha” and it was exported overseas due to the mass production.
Woncheonghwa white porcelain mainly depicts the scenes of literary works in pottery in patterns.
It enjoys a variety of works based on flowers and trees, and it is used by kaolin, so the ceramic body is thick and heavy.

 

4) Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
The era of Han Chinese has arrived again, and the era of colorful porcelain has begun in the history of ceramics. The era of prosperity has come so far that it cannot be said that it is the sole stage of Gyeongdeokjin, Gangseo-seong. Myeonghwangsil installed a “eogichang” to make specialized porcelain for the court. Youngrak and Seondeok Cheonghwa porcelain can be seen as the best, and by the time of the “Seongwha”, Tuchae porcelain appeared.

From the left, Red and Green Glaze 6 Octagon Peoples Figures Paint, Yuan Dynasty 23 years (H 56.8cm); Beophwachae Dragon Paint Porcelean, Yuan Dynasty 8 years designated as Wondae (H 45cm); Namyu Yongmun Ssangbi Octagonal Okchun Byeong, Yuan Dynasty 23 years.
From the left, Red and Green Glaze 6 Octagon Peoples Figures Paint, Yuan Dynasty 23 years (H 56.8cm); Beophwachae Dragon Paint Porcelean, Yuan Dynasty 8 years designated as Wondae (H 45cm); Namyu Yongmun Ssangbi Octagonal Okchun Byeong, Yuan Dynasty 23 years.

5) Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
The golden age of porcelain has arrived, facing the peak of its own era, which became more perfect in the era of Chaeja, which was splendid in the direction of ceramics.
China will be known to the world through active trade with Europe, etc., and its national power will be greatly expanded in the early days of Qing.
Enjoying the best porcelain in the Kanghee, Ongjeong, and Keonlung periods, It was evaluated as a collection period in the history of Chinese ceramics.
As for the main porcelain items, in addition to colored ceramics such as ochae, bunchae, and enamelchae, monochromatic oils such as red oil and navy oil are tried in luxury.
In particular, the period of Qianlong (1736-1795) achieved the peak of overwhelming splendor such as technology and quantity.

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