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  • Ceramics: Art and Perception

    Touch of Heaven: Goryeo Celadon Museum and You Bok Jo’s Celadons

    Nov 01, 2017 7 minutes
    Written by Leman Kalay

    The fire billowing smoke

    Fires ten celadon zwine cups

    There is one cup above others

    A glow in jade green

    Tempered through many a searing flame

    Unblemished as crystal

    Enduring as rock I see now the crafter’s skill

    Is touched with the heavenly gift.

    Yi Gyu-Bo

    So said Yi Gyu-bo (1168 – 1241), a renowned literary servant and scholar from the Goryeo Dynasty, when he praised the beauty of Goryeo celadon in one of his writings. Goryeo celadon seems to hold a mysterious beauty thanks to its iconic jade green color and its perfectly balanced shape.

    “Goryeo celadon” is a unique type of ceramic that was produced for the first time in the period known as the Goryeo Dynasty (918 – 1932) in Korean history. The word cheongja that was used for celadon in the Korean language describes the jade green porcelain group. What makes Goryeo celadon so special is the dark, bright bluish-green glaze. The color of Goryeo celadon owes much to the raw materials – specifically, the presence of iron in the clay and of iron oxide, manganese oxide, and quartz particles in the glaze – as well as to the firing conditions inside the

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