CEAS Humanities Series "Material and Technological Characteristics of Major Traditional Korean Ceramic Production Sites"

Jade color bisaek celadon is often said to draw the onlooker’s eye deep into the ceramic body, while moon jars of Joseon are associated with the feeling of warmth and generous spirit. Can a scientific analysis of broken ceramic pieces explain these phenomena? An inquiry into waste shards excavated at historical production sites tries to bridge the artistic macroscopic qualities of endeared masterpieces with the compositional microscopic properties of composition, microstructure, and firing parameters. The porcelain technology was imported from China at the end of Unified Silla and the beginning of Goryeo. The earliest production sites can be grouped into two main clusters, one in the southwestern coastal area around Gangjin and the other in the middle of the country around Gwangju. These two areas alternated as centers of production: Gangjin during the Goryeo dynasty for celadon, and Gwangju during the Joseon dynasty for whiteware. Between the dynasties emerged in many small kiln sites spread over the country the buncheong tradition that combined celadon and whiteware technology. Among some 350 sites known to have been active during the reign of Sejong, particularly notable are the Gyeryeongsan complex specializing in iron-painted porcelain and the Chunghyodong site which developed whiteware with an unusually high content of aluminum. In this talk, the technological features of several sites are examined and compared along with social and political factors for the dramatic shifts in the production sites that occurred during a millennium of Korean ceramics history.