PC198: 10th-14th Century Real KORYO Dynasty Celadon Big Blue Bowl Korean Antique

[Great Cultural Heritage]
Ancient Pottery Percolated with Koryo Aroma: KORYO Celadon

China's Northern Song (北宋) dynasty poet Su's [苏东坡 / 1037.1.8 ~ 1101.8.24] made a statement about 10 luxurious good in the world. Among them, Su chose two from the Koryo dynasty (ancient Korea): Koryo celadon and Koryo paper. It makes one wonder what Koryo celadon is that even the suzerain of celadon, China, became to recognize Koryo celadon.

Celadon is inarguably one the most magnificent dishes that the humanity has so far produced. It is notable that the Koryo dynasty’s celadon products were extolled as the world's best bowl during the period of the Northern Song dynasty.

The world's second country to have made celadon: Koryo

Because of its difficulty in producing celadon, the Northern Song and the Koryo dynasties were the only two countries that were able to produce celadon at their period of time. The difficulties involved finding the right type of soil, kaolin, to prevent the ceramic from being melted under 1300 degrees Celsius to bake celadon. The Koryo dynasty was the second in the world to have achieved a highly technological and precision-requiring ceramics.

In the 9th century, drinking tea became popular among Chinese Zen priests. First being produced as teacups for the priests, celadon soon gained a variety of uses. However, it was not until the late 10th century—such ceramic was considered to be one of the best high technologies privileged to Northern Song dynasty—that the Koryo dynasty was able to start producing celadon. The Koryo dynasty’s first celadon was made in the city called “Gaegyeong” on the Korean peninsula by Chinese potters from Northern Song dynasty.

[Unique Inlay and Outstanding Celadon Green]
The two dynasties, the Northern Song and the Koryo, were the only two countries that could produce celadon in the world during their period. Yet the latter surpassed the former in two ways: its inlay and celadon color.

Let us first consider the Koryo celadon’s inlay. Inlaying is a technique referred to carving out a trench on an object to fill it up with other ingredients. By finely carving out thin trenches to create images of aesthetical beings, such as flowers or cranes, on the surface of unbaked celadon candidates, the inlaying of Koryo celadon would involve filling the trenches with either terra alba (white clay) or crockery clay (china clay). After the sophisticated baking process, Terra alba inlays would come out white and crockery clay inlays would come out black. Nonetheless, inlay technique was already in use in China since the Warring States Period (5 BC ~ 3 BC). During this period time, iron or bronze bowls were engraved to put gold or silver strings. The Koryo dynasty was the first to apply such technique on ceramics; very creative in that sense.

The color of celadon also originated from China. Yet the color of Koryo celadon was marvelously superb to those of the Chinese celadon. To give celadon its best glaze, the glaze must include 3% of iron. A celadon gets a weak yellowish-green finish if its glaze contains less iron. A very dark green finish would come out if the glaze contains more iron. Only well-trained potters knew which tree would contain such optimal ratio of iron. It seems that the Koryo potters must have known the very secret to this.

Again, it can be said that Koryo celadon is one the world's most beautiful and practical type of bowl. Although the ancient Chinese did not pay much attention to the Chosun white porcelain, they were fond of the Koryo celadon. Unfortunately, the tradition of Koryo celadon declined following the Mongolian invasion in 1231 and succeeded into grayish-blue-powdered celadon (粉靑沙器) during the early Chosun dynasty period. Because the Koryo dynasty achieved an extraordinarily high level of technical and aesthetical celadon craftsmanship, the beauty of Koryo celadon relics still constitutes itself to be recognized as world-class masterpieces.