Korean Celadon: Pottery of the Royals

Korean celadon is well known for its beauty and its artistic tradition.

The word celadon usually means green but it has been widely accepted as the term used for Korean pottery. Korean pottery is known as Korean celadon or Cheong-ja. Korean celadon is an art form that is rich in history. To distinguish it from the other types of pottery, they actually name it after the color of the pottery. Cheong-ja is of course the jade green pottery, it is called either celadon or green celadon. Bun-cheong is brown or light brown pottery and is sometimes called brown celadon. Baek-ja is white porcelain and is sometimes called white celadon just.

In the past, the color of the pottery was used exclusively by people of certain class. Cheong-ja was used by royalty, aristocrats and Buddhist monks during the Goryeo Dynasty. Bun-Cheong or brown porcelain emerged during the middle of the 15th century and was used by all classes of society. Needless to say, because it was used by almost everybody, it did not possess the delicate beauty nor the elegance that was associated with the Cheong-ja. The Baek-Ja or white porcelain appeared during the early part of the 16th century, and, like the Bun-Cheong, it was also used by the common people.

Korean pottery as an art was almost lost during the Japanese colonial period. Yes, pottery was still produced but it was of lower quality and was only meant for daily use and not as an art as it was known during the earlier days. During the Japanese colonial period, it was said that the Korean artisans were forcibly moved to Japan. These relocated artisans were partly responsible for the development of the art form in Japan. It was only during the mid-1950’s that the lost art of the Goryeo celadon was rediscovered by a group of Korean artisans.

Korean celadon will always remain as one of the best pottery or maybe the best in the world. Thanks to the revival of this once lost art, the world can still enjoy the beauty and magnificent craftsmanship and artistic designs enjoyed by the royals in history.