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The Queen of Korean Arts
| Article
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20313 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1992 |
1,708 Words |
| Author
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Betty Rogers Rubenstein
Betty Rogers Rubenstein is an art historian and critic
residing in Tallahassee, Florida. |
Koreans have a love affair with their traditional ceramics. Close copies of graceful celadon forms, originating in the Koryo period (918-1392), are omnipresent. The originals are closely guarded in museum collections. National Treasure No. 95, an early twelfth-century incense burner in the National Museum in Seoul, is featured by a contemporary ceramic company on the cover of its brochure.
For good reason, Korean potters attach no stigma to copying shapes from much earlier periods or to neglecting, so far, to develop a popular taste for modern expression. They have not forgotten that when the Japanese invaded Korea at the end of the sixteenth century, Korean ceramics and the potters themselves were carried off to Japan. The captives were taken to the island of Kyushu, and there they laid the foundations for Japanese porcelain. Even teabowls, so famous in Japan, originally came from Korea, where the Buddhists had established formal tea-drinking ceremonies.
During their twentieth-century occupation, the Japanese tried to suppress all of Korea's culture, even its language. Struggling to crystallize a modern identity after years of invasion, occupation, and war, Koreans look to ceramics as the most important expression of their unique culture.
The roots of ceramic design can be traced to waves of Chinese influence during the Han period and the Northern Wei dynasty (roughly 202 B.C.-A.D. 535). Gradually, these influences waned. When Korea's Silla period come to an end in A.D. 918, the kingdom was renamed Koryo ("High Hills and Sparkling Waters") and the power of Buddhism became dominant. By the eleventh century, a Korean ceramic style appeared, distinct from the Chinese. During the twelfth century, Koryo ceramics with a celadon glaze became a fine art, and the remaining pieces are recognized as among the most beautiful ever made.
The Korean word for celadon, ch'ongja, which means blue-colored pot, has early origins. Unglazed stoneware was produced for the common people. Celadon wares were used by royalty, nobility, and the Buddhist hierarchy. The lovely gray-blue color of the ancient ceramics has never been duplicated. Perhaps because of changes in the water, clay, or glaze formulas, it may never be possible to achieve the exact shade of Koryo ceramics, a hazy, greenish blue. No description or book illustration, and none of the multitude of copies, as good as they are, can reproduce the original luster, sometimes called the "kingfisher"
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