Korean pottery and porcelain
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[[Image:Goryeo Celadon .jpg|thumb|"Cheongja unhak sanggam mun maebyeong", adorned with drawings of the red cranes.]]
'''Korean ceramic history''' begins with the oldest [[earthenware]] from around 8000 BC.
==Early History==
''See also: [[Jeulmun Pottery Period]], [[Mumun Pottery Period]]''
===Three Kingdoms Pottery===
[[Image:Pressapochista17.jpg|left|thumb|pottery of the [[Gaya confederacy]]]]
The [[Three Kingdoms of Korea]] (57 BC-668 AD), namely [[Silla]], [[Goguryeo]], and [[Baekje]], provided the beginning of Korean ceramic history.
Rough domestic wares for the people were produced from numerous kilns. Likewise a number of very sophisticated statues of royal figures, guardians, and horses, equivalent to Chinese [[Han Dynasty]] figures, used for domestic and imperial votive shrines, as well as for escorts of the dead in tombs of the nobles and kings, were turned on potter's wheels, while others were formed using the traditional hammered clay and coil method.
===Silla Era Pottery===
During the [[Unified Silla]] period ([[668]]–[[935]]) pottery was simple in colour, shape, and design. Celadon was subsequently the main production, with ''baekja'' porcelain wares developing slowly in the 14th century, when the pace accelerated with new [[ceramic glaze|glaze]]s, better [[clay]]s, and surprising variations of the white of different clays.
[[Image:IMG 0293 Ko.JPG|thumb|Silla Three Kingdoms Period Jar, Private Collection]]
The kilns at the time had to compete with Chinese wares on a variety of social levels. The Korean ceramic masters decided to distinguish Korean ''baekja'' or white porcelain from Chinese imports by maintaining simplicity in design when the practical problems of finding pure white glazes were solved. Dating of glazes from this era has revealed a [[celadon]] or [[jade]] [[patina]] beneath white glazes.
''Baekja'' wares came from highly refined white clay, glazed with [[feldspar]], and fired in large carefully regulated and very clean [[kiln]]s. Despite the refining process, glazes in white colours always vary as a result of the properties of the clay itself; firing methods were not uniform, temperatures varied and glazes on pieces vary from pure white, in an almost snowy thickness, through milky white that shows the clay beneath deliberately in washed glaze, to light blue and light yellow patinas.
The ''baekja'' wares reached their zenith immediately before the [[Joseon Dynasty]] came to power. Fine pieces have recently been found in the area about [[Wolchil Peak]] in the [[Diamond Mountains]]. The transitional wares of white became expressions of the Joseon Dynasty celebrations of victory in many pieces decorated with [[Korean calligraphy]]. Traditionally white wares were used by both the scholarly Confucian class, the nobility, and royalty on more formal occasions.
Simultaneously, the [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] traditions demanded celadon-glazed wares, and ''cheongja'' pieces of celadon porcelain with more organic shapes drawing on gourds, with animal and bird motifs that evolved very quickly. In some ways these were over-decorated wares, using exaggerated forms, stylized repeating designs, and a wide variety of organic patterns.
''Cheongja'' wares used refined earth clays with a bit of iron powder added, then a glaze with a bit of added iron powder added once again, then fired. The glaze dried to a hard finish and was duable with a slightly shinier and glossier finish, in an oily way, than whitewares.
===Goryeo Dynasty===
[[Image:Seoul-National.Museum.of.Korea-07.jpg|thumb|left|Incense burner made in Goryeo Dynasty]]
The [[Goryeo]] Dynasty (918–1392) achieved the unification of the [[Later Three Kingdoms]] under [[Taejo of Goryeo|King Taejo]]. The works of this period are considered by some to be the finest small-scale works of ceramics in Korean history.
Key-fret, foliate designs, geometric or scrolling flowerhead bands, elliptical panels, stylized fish and insects, and the use of incised designs began at this time. Glazes were usually various shades of celadon, with browned glazes to almost black glazes being used for stoneware and storage. Celadon glazes could be rendered almost transparent to show black and white inlays.
While the forms generally seen are broad-shouldered bottles, larger low bowls or shallow smaller bowls, highly decorated celadon cosmetic boxes, and small slip-inlaid cups, the Buddhist potteries also produced melon-shaped vases, chrysanthemum cups often of spectacularly architectural design on stands with lotus motifs and lotus flower heads. In-curving rimmed alms bowls have also been discovered similar to [[Korean metalware]]. Wine cups often had a tall foot which rested on dish-shaped stands.
===Joseon Dynasty Ceramics===
[[Image:Joseon porcelain-01.jpg|thumb|180px|White porcelain of the Joseon Dynasty]]
During the [[Joseon Dynasty]], (1392–1910) ceramic ware was considered to represent the highest quality of achievement from imperial, city, and provincial kilns, the last of which were export-driven wares. This was the golden age of Korean pottery, with a long period of growth in imperial and provincial kilns, and much work of the highest quality still preserved.
Wares evolved along Chinese lines in terms of colour, shape, and technique. Celadon, [[Joseon White Porcelain|white porcelain]], and storage pottery were similar, but with slight variations in glazes, incision designs, florality, and weight. The Ming influence in blue and white wares using [[cobalt]]-blue glazes existed, but without the [[pthalo blue]] range, and the three-dimensional [[glassine]] colour depth of [[Ming Dynasty]] Chinese works.
[[Image:Joseon.porcelain-Buncheong.jagi-01.jpg|thumb|left|160px|Punjang Sagi, or Slip-decorated Celadon Bowl (Mishima Ware)]]
Simplified designs emerged early on. Buddhist designs still prevailed in celadon wares: lotus flowers, and willow trees. The form most often seen was that of pear-shaped bottles. Notable were thinner glazes, and colourless glazes for ''[[buncheong]]'' or stoneware.
After the prolonged fall of the Ming dynasty, immigration of some Chinese master potters occurred in southern coastal Korea. [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] colouring, brighter and almost [[Scythian art|Scythian]] in enamel imitation, was rejected by Korean potters, in favour of simpler, less decorated wares in keeping with a new dynasty that built itself on military tradition.
Generally, the ceramics of this dynasty is divided into early, middle, and late periods, changing every two centuries, approximately; thus 1300 to 1500 is the early period, 1500 to 1700 the middle, and 1700 to 1900–1910 the late period.
The wares began to assume more traditional Korean glazes and more specific designs to meet regional needs. This is to be expected, as the Scythian art influences were of the former dynasty. The rise of [[Joseon White Porcelain|white porcelain]] occurred as a result of Confucian influence and ideals, resulting in purer, less pretentious forms lacking artifice and complexity.
== Export Porcelain ==
Nearly all exports of Korean ceramics went to [[Japan]], and most were from provincial coastal kilns, especially in the [[Busan]] area. Export occurred in two ways: either through trading and the voluntary immigration of potters, or through outright invasion and theft of pottery and the forced relocation to Japan of families of potters who made the wares when the first method failed.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} The method of sending paper models of ceramics to Japan, having them approved and then having them manufactured began in the late 17th century, most often for the masters of [[Japanese Tea Ceremony]].
==Kilns==
[[Image:Korea-Gyeongju-Yangdong.Village-02.jpg|thumb|A kiln in [[Yangdong Village of Gyeongju]].]]
Central to Korean success were the chambered climbing kilns that were used throughout the Joseon dynasty and exported abroad, especially to Japan by Korean kiln-makers where they were renamed as ''noborigama'' in the Karatsu area from the 17th century on.
Today most kilns used are electric kilns with computer controlled switchoffs, replacing first generation electric kilns with ceramic cones used as timers. There are, however, also artists using gas-fired kilns.
==Centers For Studying Korean Ceramics==
*Department of Ceramics at the College of Art and Design, [[Ewha Woman's University]] in [[Seoul]]
==Gallery==
{{Commonscat|Korean pottery}}
<gallery>
Image:Pressapochista6.jpg|Sheep-shaped celadon from the 3rd to 4th century Baekje
Image:Silla ClaydollJar.jpg|Silla earthenware jar.
Image:Pressapochista13.jpg|Mounted jar from Gaya dated to the 5th or 6th century.
Image:Korean Wine Ewer3.jpg|A Korean wine ewer from the Goryeo Dynasty, c. 1150-1200 AD
Image:Korea-Goryeo_celadon-Incense_burner-01.jpg|A celadon incense burner from the Goryeo Dynasty with Korean kingfisher glaze
Image:Seoul-National.Museum.of.Korea-06.jpg|Goryeo-era Celadon exhibited at National Museum of Korea
Image:Korean Wine Ewer.jpg|A Korean wine ewer made during the Goryeo Dynasty, c. 1250 AD
Image:IMG 0290 Ko.JPG|Joseon Dynasty Jeongho Wine Jar
</gallery>
== References ==
Goro Akaboshi, ''Five Centuries of Korean Ceramics'', Weatherhill, 1975.
==See also==
*[[Joseon white porcelain]]
*[[Buncheong]]
*[[Korean art]]
*[[List of Korean ceramic artists and sculptors]]
==External links==
* [http://www.prweb.com/releases/KoreanCeramics/Asianart/prweb778834.htm The Art of Korean Potters Exhibit]
* [http://www.geocities.com/mokkim/koreahistory.html Korean History]
* [http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/koreanHome.htm Over 120 pictures of Korean Pottery from the [[Freer Gallery]] ]
* [http://myhome.shinbiro.com/~mss1/koryo.html Koryo dynasty]
* [http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/KoreanCeramics.htm Korean ceramics] Details of an exhibition at the [[Smithsonian Institution]]
* [http://myhome.shinbiro.com/~mss1/eall.html Cultural Assets of Korea ]
* [http://www.hawaii.edu/korea/bibliography/archaeology.htm Comprehensive Archaeological Bibliography of Korean Pottery]
* [http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568150_4/Pottery.html Talks on the Korean impact on Japanese ceramics]
* [http://encarta.msn.com/media_461526935/Korean_Pottery_Chos%C5%8Fn_Dynasty.html Joseon Dragon vase] with softer watery-blue glaze and naturalistic brush-strokes
* [http://www.artsandartists.org/exhpages/korea/images.html From the Fire: Contemporary Korean ceramics] International Arts Ceramic Artists exhibition
* [http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/exhibits/mountaindreams.shtml Mountain Dreams: Contemporary Ceramics by Yoon Kwang-cho] — Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition
[[Category:Korean pottery|*]]