Celebrated for its luminous jade-green glaze and groundbreaking artistry, Goryeo celadon stands among the greatest achievements in the history of ceramic art.
The color of the autumn sky right after a heavy rain shower is recreated on earth through Goryeo celadon ceramic ware. Potters from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) tinted their pottery works with a piece of the clear autumn sky, demurely revealed through dark clouds after a heavy rainfall. The mysterious bluish-green color of celadon pottery defies any man-made dye. It is the epitome of natural beauty that cannot be acquired from any scientific color combination using modern technology.
Celadon pottery was first made in China, where potters from the Northern and Southern Dynasties discovered that when ash landed on ceramic works being fired in kilns at a high temperature, the result was a wonderful blue coat. The ash formed from burning wood chemically reacted with the clay to create a natural glaze which hardened into a beautiful bluish finish when baked at 1300° Celsius inside the kilns. The technique of celadon making was refined during the Tang Dynasty but was elevated to the zenith of its artistry during the Sung Dynasty in the 12th century.
<Celadon Vase Inlaid with Crane-and-Cloud Pattern
Goryeo, 12th Century
42.1cm in height and 24.5cm in diameter at its widest point.
The voluminous form of this wonderful 12th century Goryeo porcelain piece came from the Meiping (or Maebyeong in Korean, literally meaning a ‘maehwa vase’) style from the Sung Dynasty in China. By the time this vase was made, however, Goryeo had already established its own style characterized by a more expansive form and elegantly-curved lines. An increasingly-important achievement of Goryeo porcelain ware in the world’s ceramics history is the introduction of the inlaying technique to the art of pottery. In the above vase, whose form, size and luxuriousness make it one of the greatest masterpieces of its kind, the pattern of white cranes and clouds is exquisitely inlaid into the surface of the jade-blue body.>
Korean potters who were introduced to China’s celadon making techniques in the mid-9th century began a new era and aestheticism of celadon pottery by introducing their own unique skills and methods to the world. When celadon pottery reached its artistic peak in 12th-century China, a new set of celadon-making techniques was being established by Korean potters. Although celadon pottery from the Sung Dynasty is known for its majestic forms, extravagant decorations, and opaque glazing, Goryeo celadon works feature natural, subtle forms perfectly and harmoniously in balance with soft, rhythmic lines and clear glazing. Until the 17th century, when Japan acquired the skills and practices of pottery-making through the kidnapping of Korean potters during the Japanese invasion, only Korea and China had the technology to create high-quality earthenware baked at very high temperatures. Many European countries imported celadon and other pottery styles from China until the 18th century when they finally launched their own unique ceramic methods.
<Openwork Celadon Incense Burner with the Seven Treasures Design
Goryeo, 12th Century
During the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392), a wide variety of celadon incense burners were produced. Among them, the Openwork Celadon Incense Burner with the Seven Treasures Design, designated as a National Treasure of Korea, is regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of Goryeo celadon. Created during the golden age of celadon in the 12th century, it showcases virtually every decorative technique of the period, including incising, relief carving, openwork, inlay, appliqué, and sculptural modeling.
The incense burner consists of a spherical openwork lid, a lotus-shaped body, and a flat pedestal supported by three charming rabbits. Although each element is sculpted in a different form, they are harmoniously integrated into a remarkably refined and unified work of art.
When incense is burned inside the vessel, the fragrant smoke gently rises through the openwork Seven Treasures pattern on the domed lid, allowing the aroma to disperse beautifully into the surrounding space. The lotus-shaped body features three overlapping layers of petals, each individually crafted and attached using the traditional appliqué (cheophwa) technique. The joint connecting the body to the pedestal is also decorated with delicately modeled petals, further enhancing the elegance of the composition.>
There are several factors that set Goryeo celadon apart from others in the realm of ceramics history. First of all, the “mysterious color” unique to Goryeo celadon was even referred to by celebrated Goryeo poet, Yi Gyu-bo, as a piece stolen of “heavenly harmony.” The color that envelops viewers with mysterious reflection, as if they are looking into the deep waters of a calm lake, became the subject of admiration even by Chinese people who had introduced the ware. In fact, a scholar from the Sung Dynasty declared in his writing that Goryeo celadon was one of the best things in the world, surpassing China in the art of celadon pottery, and that the rich, vivid color of Goryeo celadon was the “best under heaven.”
<Celadon Ewer in the Form of a Fish-Dragon
This National Treasure of Korea, created during the golden age of Goryeo celadon in the 12th century, is one of the most imaginative masterpieces of Korean ceramic art. The ewer takes the form of a fish-dragon (eoryong), a mythical creature with the head of a dragon and the body of a fish, dramatically depicted as it leaps powerfully from the water.
The spout is sculpted as the dragon's head, while the vessel's body takes the graceful form of a fish. The handle, shaped like a lotus stem, flows naturally over the back of the vessel, and the lid is modeled after the fish's tail. Although each component is inspired by a different natural form, they are seamlessly integrated into a harmonious representation of this legendary creature.
The luminous jade-green celadon glaze, combined with the exquisitely incised details on the fins and floral motifs, demonstrates the extraordinary craftsmanship of Goryeo potters. Every element is executed with remarkable precision, giving the mythical creature both elegance and vitality.>
Secondly, potters from the Goryeo Dynasty applied a unique decorative practice to their celadon pottery making – the wonderful art of inlaying, the first of its kind in the world. Inlaid celadon is made by incising the desired motifs onto the surface of a vessel and filling in the area with white or red slip (clay mixture) before applying the glaze. After firing, the white slip remains the same color while the red slip turns black. The inlaying technique requires not only the highly refined skill of balancing completely different materials but also a dexterous incising ability as well as elegant taste, all of which go hand in hand with the sophisticated refinement of celadon pottery. This new technique resulted in an innovative change in celadon decoration. The conventional intaglio and relief techniques only allowed subtle decoration of a vessel; however, the introduction of the inlaying approach that resulted in vivid patterns shown through a thin layer of clear blue glaze marked the beginning of a new celadon era. Some of the most popular motifs include cranes, clouds, willow trees, grapes, children, lotus flowers, peonies, and chrysanthemums that reflect the longing for the eternal world and the lyrical awareness of the natural world by the Goryeo people. These motifs mesh perfectly with the mysterious jade color of Goryeo celadon, thus creating the most beautiful art work made of earth.
<Melon-shaped Celadon Vase Inlaid with Peonies and Chrysanthemums
Goryeo, 12th Century
25.6cm in height and 10.9cm in diameter at its widest point
This vase is an impressive example of inlaid celadon works. It adopts the shape of a blooming morning glory flower in the mouth, a melon with eight round sections in the body, and pleated skirts in the flared foot to achieving a rhythmic body harmoniously balanced. An indeterminate flare of the foot blends in with the mouth of the vase shaped as nine petals of a flower to emit the air of warmth. Two horizontal lines on the neck and inversed heart shapes on the top of the body are inlaid with white clay. Peonies and chrysanthemums are inlaid alternatively on eight sides of the body with both black and white; the bottom of the body is decorated with lotus petal patterns using the same inlaying technique. The fluid and graceful curve of the vase is in perfect synchronization with the black and white patterns revealed through a thin coat of clear glaze, a color so mysteriously beautiful that it captures the heart of the viewer.>
Thirdly, the technique of underglazing with copper-paint in order to tint the celadon ceramic red was attained by Goryeo potters for the first time in the world. To create such an enhancement of beauty, patterns are drawn on the ceramic using copper-based paint before applying the glaze. After being fired at 1300˚C, the copper drawings turn bright red through the process of oxidation. This was the most elaborate and beautiful coloring technique that had been invented in the history of ceramic crafts. Potters from Goryeo refrained from abusing this technique, however, and only used it minimally to accentuate the harmony of different colors within the ceramic. Chinese potters were not able to develop the system to apply underglazing with copper-paint until the 14th century, 200 years after Goryeo ceramic craftsmen.
<Gourd-shaped Celadon Ewer Underglazed with Copper Red
Goryeo, 13th Century
32.5cm in height and 16.8cm in diameter at its widest point
The abundant use of bright red copper underglazing on this unique celadon ewer coexists perfectly with the color of blue sky after a rainstorm during an autumn afternoon. The body is shaped like a gourd with two lotus flowers of different sizes on top of each other. The flower on the lower body is slightly opened in the shape of a pond from which flower stems grow. A boy sits on the neck holding a lotus bud in his hand dipping his feet into the pond while a small frog is poised to jump from the handle, exemplifying vivid evidence of the Goryeo people’s deep love of nature and rich imagination. The veins of each petal are delicately incised with copper-red outlines and occasional white dots serving to further enliven the overall effect of subtle luxuriousness.>
These achievements made great contributions to the development of the ceramic crafts and arts in Korea and the world. Some critics profoundly say that they also helped Goryeo celadon ceramic art move one step closer to art’s divine function of “purifying human minds with the power of beauty.” A great poet of the Goryeo Dynasty, Yi Gyu-bo, said that Goryeo celadon is made “by borrowing the magical power of heaven,” while his Chinese contemporaries praised it with expressions such as, “number one under heaven” and “extreme beauty.” Even today, many connoisseurs reveal their admiration of Goryeo celadon works by calling them “blessings of heaven” perfected by “God’s hands.”
The production of celadon ceramic art work that gave birth to this splendid world of beauty entered a period of steady decline paralleling the political and social turmoil during the late Goryeo Dynasty until it gradually disappeared from the ceramics sphere in Korea, making way for a new type of earthenware: Joseon Dynasty white porcelain. Sadly, the world had been deprived of the mysterious beauty of celadon for some 600 years until the vision of one man came to be.
* Photos courtesy of National Museum of Korea and Encyclopedia of Korean Culture.