Goryeo Celadon vs Iznik Pottery
高麗青磁 / イズニク陶器
Both sit in Ceramic Styles, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Goryeo Celadon
The main ceramic style of Korea's Goryeo dynasty, built around glazes that range from green to bluish, the finest of which was called bisaek, or jade colour. The clay body carries traces of iron and fires a grayish white, which sets it apart from the pure white porcelain of the same centuries. Because the glaze stays translucent, inlaid decoration cut into the body and filled with white and red slip reads as if held under water.
Iznik Pottery
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The pottery reached by the Ottoman kilns, setting brilliant blue and red on a white body. Tulips and carnations turn in spirals around the curve of the vessel, and on the wall tiles of a mosque geometry and plant ornament coexist on a single surface.
| Goryeo Celadon | Iznik Pottery | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 918–1392 | 15th–17th century |
| Family | Ceramic Styles | Ceramic Styles |
| Kind | Style | Style |
| Cues | A translucent glaze running from green to bluish over a grayish white body / Inlaid lines of white and red slip sitting visibly below the glaze surface / Incising, relief carving and openwork used together on one vessel / Small passages of iron or copper pigment painting, dark brown or red, on the green ground | The brilliance of a white body under transparent glaze / Cobalt blue and a red that stands in relief / Spiralling plant ornament / A continuous composition turning around a curved surface |
| Best used for | Fixing the green range as a colour reference for an exhibition or catalogue of Korean ceramics · Translating the look of pattern sunk beneath a translucent layer into print finishing or screen layers | Turning a pattern around a curved surface without a break · Getting density and brilliance from a limited palette |
| Type | The vessel itself carries almost no lettering. If a mark or a label is needed, set it small in a fine serif with thin vertical strokes, clear of the ornament's empty ground. | If you use lettering, run it as a band and give it the same rank as the ground pattern. |
| Composition | Run narrow bands at the rim and foot and leave the wide body largely open. Scatter motifs on a diagonal rather than symmetrically so the void carries the piece. | Pair a composition radiating from the center with a band at the rim. |
| Material | Cover a grayish white body carrying trace iron with a translucent glaze between green and blue green. Cut the pattern into the body, fill it with white and red slip, then glaze over so it sinks. | Transparent glaze over a white body, with the red raised to give relief. |
| Caution | Flattening bisaek into a generic green makes the inlay read as printed on the surface and destroys the depth the style depends on. | Tiling the ornament flat loses the logic of the vessel. The handling of the curve and the rim is the pivot of the style. |