Desirable commodities – unearthing and collecting Koryŏ celadon ceramics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Horlyck, Charlotte

Abstract

In Korea green-glazed celadon ceramics were manufactured during the Koryŏ kingdom (AD 918–1392), but by the end of the fourteenth century their manufacture ceased and they virtually disappeared from view until the 1880s when they began to be unearthed from tombs and other sites. This led to increased interest in them from Koreans, and especially the Japanese, Americans and Europeans. Focusing on British collections, this article outlines the collecting practices of Korean celadon wares from the time of their discovery in the 1880s to the market boom of the 1910s, culminating in the decrease in their availability in the 1930s. It will be argued that the desire for celadon wares was socially conditioned and that celadon were collected for a range of different, though not unrelated reasons, ranging from collectors' pursuit of unique Korean artworks, to their want of genuine antiquities and aesthetic perfection.

Citation

Horlyck, C. (2013). Desirable commodities – unearthing and collecting Koryŏ celadon ceramics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 76(3), 467-491. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X13000906

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Aug 15, 2015
• Journal: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
• Print ISSN: 0041-977X
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-0699
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 76
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 467-491
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X13000906