Goryeo celadon (cheongja)
Celadón de Goryeo (cheongja)
- Date
- c. siglos X-XI · confidence medium
- Place
- Gangjin, South Jeolla, South Korea
- Credited to
- Goryeo potters
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
High-fired glazed stoneware with a translucent blue-green glaze, the 'bisaek' colour that Koreans of the time compared to jade. The kilns of Gangjin and Buan made the finest Goryeo celadons, admired even in China.
The technique derives from Chinese Yue celadon of the 9th-10th centuries, but Goryeo's glaze and style developed locally. The peak was in the 12th century and the kilns declined with the instability of the 14th.
What it led to
- clay inlay (sanggam), a later Korean invention
- export of luxury ceramics and trade with the Song
- Joseon ceramic tradition (buncheong and white porcelain)