Korean pottery essays

Korean pottery essays From 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, the mankind started to make earthenware and use them. In Korea, they have used earthenware from 7~8,000years ago-the New Stone Age. As time went by, glazes were sometimes employed. The firing temperature varied between 500 and 1,100 degrees. Earthenware was used in Korea until the early Koryo dynasty (10-11th centuries). Earthenware and bronze developed in parallel through the prehistoric age, and then the periods known in Korea as Silla and Kaya (from 57 BC until the 10th century), and Koryo (10-14th centuries). The earthenware pottery of Silla and Kaya is particularly noted for its formal qualities. The earthenware was used for utilitarian vessels, which were sometimes modelled into the shape of people, houses, and animals. Among the various pieces surviving from this period, we can find vessels expressing vividly the characteristic spirit of the Korean people, a spirit that has remained alive through the centuries until the present day. The facial e xpressions are comically exaggerated, we find amusing caricatures, as well as bold sexual features suggesting use in fertility rites, a variety of concise artistic details indicating a rich imagination. Through such works the image of our ancestors of centuries past has been transmitted to us today. In 9th century Silla(Koreas earliestdynasty), they have had great opportunity to trade with China and accepted manufacturing technology of Celadon. In China, jade signifies the true gentleman, wealth and honor. Therefore jade was popular for use in objects enclosed in tombs. The ruling classes were eager to possess jade, but it was too little for their needs, and very expensive. Therefore artisans tried to create jade from clay, and the result was the pottery known in the West as Celadon. In Korea, Chinese celadon pottery has been found in tombs dating from the 4-6th centuries, suggesting that the royal family of the period imported celadon from China as...