Goryeo Celadon: The Openwork Incense Burner

Full transcript

Annyeong, yeoreobun! It's Yul. Welcome to the third floor, where everything turns a beautiful jade green. This is Goryeo celadon, and people in medieval China, the masters of pottery, actually praised it as one of the best in the world.

The color is called bisaek, the color of kingfisher feathers. It's not paint. Potters mixed a special glaze with a little iron, controlled the fire in the kiln very carefully, and the green appeared. Too much air, and it turned brown. So every perfect green piece was a little miracle.

Now look at this incense burner. It's from the twelfth century. At the top, there's a round lid made of interlocking circles, all cut through, so the smoke from the incense could drift out in soft lines. In the middle, a lotus bowl. And at the bottom? Three tiny rabbits holding the whole thing up on their backs. Three rabbits! Twelve hundred years old, and still cute.

Imagine a room in a Goryeo palace. Incense is burning, the smoke floats out through those little holes, and a king or a noble is reading quietly. That's the luxury life of nine hundred years ago.

Here's the sad part. The secret of how to make this exact celadon was lost after Goryeo fell. Modern potters spent decades trying to bring the color back.

Yul's tip! In the celadon room, look for pieces with inlaid patterns, called sanggam. Potters carved designs like cranes and clouds, filled them with white and black clay, and then glazed them. This technique is a Goryeo specialty. Find a crane, and take a picture. It's for good luck.