Kat Yun on sun 8 sep 02
I am looking fo information on Korean pottery, anything and everything will
be helpful, thank you.
Lamar, Luke on mon 9 sep 02
Hi,
There is a great book called "Radiance of Jade and the Clarity of Water"
that describes the Ataka collection - one of the largest collections of
Korean celadons from the 9th - 19th centuries. The book includes a brief
history of Korean ceramics. The pictures are great! The book explains very
little about pottery techniques.
Check out the following web site:
http://www.coastside.net/msinfobooks/orienxce.html
It lists and describes several out-of-print books on Oriental ceramics.
Luke Lamar
llamar@bacweb.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Kat Yun [mailto:DuckieQueen18@AOL.COM]
Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 9:12 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Korean Pottery
I am looking fo information on Korean pottery, anything and everything will
be helpful, thank you.
Dupre Mr Marcy M on tue 27 may 03
Dear Claybuds,
I need some assistance in finding books for personal research, please.
I have developed a burgeoning interest in old Korean methods of making,
glazing, and firing pottery. As such, I am in the beginning stages of
discovery, just trying to find sources of knowledge.
It occurred to me that the old potters didn't have access to the chemistry
and analytical tools we currently enjoy. Much of their knowledge must have
come from patient experimenting, and periodic happy accidents that they then
carefully recreated. (This thought came to me while I was using my
electronic digital scales to measure out tenths of a gram of oxides for
coloring a new glaze test.)
Putting myself in the past by several hundred years, I surmised that recipes
for clay bodies and glazes that worked, along with firing schedules, must
have been closely held secrets, passed on from generation to generation with
great pomp and circumstance, father to son. Recipes were undoubtedly
memorized, never written. That which is written may be compromised.
Recipes were also probably along the lines of, "Two measures of black
powder, one measure of white powder, and three measures of red clay." A
measure was possibly a certain cup made of bamboo or pottery, also closely
held because of the ratio of amounts of materials.
All this is the result of imagination on my part, based on some knowledge of
the cultures of the Far East, and a lot of reading.
Most of the books I have been able to find so far on the subject of Korean
pottery either are a collection of (expen$ive) pictures, or are rambling
treatises about the geology of a specific kiln site. I'd like to read up on
methodologies of the old masters, possible glaze and clay body recipes (even
with "measure of this, measure of that"), kiln designs, and general
production practices.
Can you recommend any books (that don't cost the National Debt) that are of
more interest to a practicing potter than a cultural anthropologist? :o)
Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Tig
in foggy, misty, damp, muggy Springfield, VA, waiting for MORE rain...
Janet Kaiser on wed 28 may 03
There are three kinds of men:
The ones that learn by reading.
The few who learn by observation.
The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence.
(attributed to Will Rogers)
In the absence of books on ceramics and electric fences in Korea, may I
suggest the only alternative?
Seriously, I do not know very much about Korean pottery, but always thought
the technology, glazes, etc were mostly from China? The altogether
independent and quite distinctive Korean style, execution of the work and
the way incoming "new technology" was adapted, was what set it apart and
gave it a separate identity. Unless there has been new research and
hypotheses I have not heard about?
All the Korean pottery I have ever seen (not a lot) was especially
memorable for the use of incised decoration filled with a contrasting
coloured slip, then glazed in a celadon or brown glaze. (I battled with
this concept for a whole term at college... Never managed anything like a
success). I remember one particular shouldered vase in the Victoria &
Albert Museum in London... Beautifully stylised, simple design of two birds
(cranes? herons?) standing in water.
I always get my dynasties and periods mixed up, but surely that bright
kingfisher glaze was first known in China and gradually moved into Korea?
But admittedly it looks a lot softer and more subtle on Korean ware. Later
Korean work was directly influenced by economic turndown (to use modern
parlance) when finally brought under direct Chinese rule, but even the
comparatively cruder slap-dash forms still appealed to me for their very
jauntiness.
This is absolutely no help in answering your question, Tig, other than to
perhaps point you towards looking at Chinese sources first. There is much
speculation about all ancient (and some modern) glaze and body
compositions, so there is unlikely to be any definitive answer anywhere.
Perhaps Nigel Wood references Korea in his books?
It has never been of much interest to archaeologists or curators how
ceramics were made. Nothing from a potter's perspective for them. Indeed
some of the suppositions the archaeologists have made about kiln sites,
have had many a potter scratching their head wondering how they worked and
there have been few reconstructions as far as I know around the world to
see if the academics get it right... Not many combine the two separate
interests at any level. There are few pot making archaeologists and even
fewer potters who are hobby archaeologists.
I suspect curators would not want the exact methodology made public even if
it was known... There is enough of a problem with the trade in fake work,
without the added headache of increasing "authenticity".
Just a few reasons why you have found lots of descriptions and images of
pots, long tomes on archaeological dig and ancient kiln sites, but little
on actual production methods or materials used. But don't stop looking!
Sincerely
Janet Kaiser
**********************************************************************
TRUTH is too precious to tell every fool who asks for it...
****** This post was sent to you today by Janet Kaiser *******
The Chapel of Art / Capel Celfyddyd
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Tel: ++44 (01766) 523570 URL: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
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Alan Walker on wed 28 may 03
>
> I need some assistance in finding books for personal research, please.
>
Have you seen
"Korea's Pottery Heritage", Edward B. Adams, Seoul International Publishing
House, printed 1986, reprinted 1994.
No ISBN
Lee Love on thu 22 jul 04
Here is an interesting link related to the village where Ido teabowls
come from (got it from a "tea" list):
http://www.saemigol.co.kr/eng/sabal.aspx
This is to the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka. I first saw work
from this collection at the Chicago Institute of Art::
http://www.moco.or.jp/en/index.html
Check out their Choson collection:
http://www.moco.or.jp/en/colle/colle/Korea_B/frame.html You need to click on next.
I believe photos of their entire collection are online.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://www.livejournal.com/users/togeika/ WEB LOG
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