朝鮮王室 胎항아리 變遷硏究

Abstract

A Tae (placenta)-jar refers to an earthen container holding and keeping the amnion and the placenta of a child born to the royal family of the Chosun Dynasty and is divided into an inner jar holding the placenta and an outer jar covering the inner jar. The Tae-jar used by the royal family of the Chosun Dynastic has been recognized as an indicative relicpresenting the standards for the absolute age in the history of Korean pottery. On the Tae-stone (a memorial stone), kept together with the placenta, the birthday of the Tae-owner and the burial day of the placenta are recorded and most of the scholars use the absolute age based on the burial day of the placenta, which is time for making a Taesil (a room made of stones for keeping the jars containing Tae). However, this age calculation is based on the burial date of the Tae-stone without proper understanding of the royal family’s childbirth tradition as to handling the placenta. According to the royal childbirth tradition, most of the Tae-jars should be made and prepared in advance before royal children are born. Hence, the time of making Tae-jars will produce a much narrower margin of error when based on the date of birth rather than the date of burial. Based on this, the absolute age of Tae-jars so far calculated based on the date of burial must be shifted to calculation upon the date of birth. This article focused on the process of changes of Tae-jars of the Chosun Dynasty. In order to identify the usage of kilns and the flow of produced jars of the Chosun Dynasty, the characteristics of kilns and porcelains excavated and the process of changes in Tae-jars were studied before and after the establishment of the royal kiln of the Chosun Dynasty. Especially, since the establishment of the royal kiln of the Chosun Dynasty, the white Tae-jars were divided into six stages to learn about changes and characteristics of forms of Tae-jars in detail. Finally, time of use of the royal kiln was compared and reviewed through the manufacturing years of white Tae-jars.