Goryeo Celadon

高麗青磁 / 918–1392 / Style / Ceramic Styles

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.

Goryeo Celadon — Celadon maebyeong with inlaid cloud and crane design, Goryeo dynasty, 13th century — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 · © The original uploader was Korea history at English Wikipedia . — Celadon maebyeong with inlaid cloud and crane design, Goryeo dynasty, 13th century — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © The original uploader was Korea history at English Wikipedia .

Goryeo Celadon — Celadon melon-shaped ewer with inlaid chrysanthemum design, Goryeo dynasty, 12th century — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 — Celadon melon-shaped ewer with inlaid chrysanthemum design, Goryeo dynasty, 12th century — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0

Goryeo Celadon — Celadon bowl with stamped and inlaid decoration, Goryeo dynasty, 1150-1200 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 UK · © Valerie — Celadon bowl with stamped and inlaid decoration, Goryeo dynasty, 1150-1200 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 UK · CC BY-SA 2.0 uk · © Valerie

At a glance

Visual 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

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

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Dictionary entry

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.
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.
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.
Caution: Flattening bisaek into a generic green makes the inlay read as printed on the surface and destroys the depth the style depends on.
Further study: how the glaze colour and the wall thickness change between twelfth and thirteenth century work and fourteenth century work / what colours the white clay and red clay used for inlay read as after firing / the proportions in pieces that combine carving, relief and openwork on one vessel

Related entries

Iznik Pottery (イズニク陶器)Same Ceramic Styles lineage.Compare Goryeo Celadon and Iznik Pottery
Delftware (デルフト焼)Same Ceramic Styles lineage.Compare Goryeo Celadon and Delftware

Often confused with

Buncheong (粉青沙器)compare

Cite this entry

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