celadon

Celadon ( ) is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was first used on greenware, but later used on other porcelains. Celadon originated in China, though the term is purely European, and notable kilns such as the Longquan kiln in Zhejiang province are renowned for their celadon glazes. Celadon production later spread to other parts of East Asia, such as Japan and Korea, as well as Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam. Eventually, European potteries produced some pieces, but it was never a major element there. Finer pieces are in porcelain, but both the color and the glaze can be produced in stoneware and earthenware. Most of the earlier Longquan celadon is on the border of stoneware and porcelain, meeting the Chinese but not the European definitions of porcelain. For many centuries, celadon wares were highly regarded by the Chinese imperial court, before being replaced in fashion by painted wares, especially the new blue and white porcelain under the Yuan dynasty. The similarity of the color to jade, traditionally the most highly valued material in China, was a large part of its attraction.…

Celadon ( ) is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was first used on greenware, but later used on other porcelains. Celadon originated in China, though the term is purely European, and notable kilns such as the Longquan kiln in Zhejiang province are renowned for their celadon glazes. Celadon production later spread to other parts of East Asia, such as Japan and Korea, as well as Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam. Eventually, European potteries produced some pieces, but it was never a major element there. Finer pieces are in porcelain, but both the color and the glaze can be produced in stoneware and earthenware. Most of the earlier Longquan celadon is on the border of stoneware and porcelain, meeting the Chinese but not the European definitions of porcelain. For many centuries, celadon wares were highly regarded by the Chinese imperial court, before being replaced in fashion by painted wares, especially the new blue and white porcelain under the Yuan dynasty. The similarity of the color to jade, traditionally the most highly valued material in China, was a large part of its attraction. Celadon continued to be produced in China at a lower level, often with a conscious sense of reviving older styles. In Korea, the celadon produced during Goryeo period (918–1392) are regarded as classic wares of Korean porcelain. The celadon color is classically produced by firing a glaze containing a little iron oxide at a high temperature in a reducing kiln. The materials must be refined, as other chemicals can alter the color completely. Too little iron oxide causes a blue color (sometimes a desired effect), and too much gives olive and finally black; the right amount is between 0.75% and 2.5%. The presence of other chemicals may have effects; titanium dioxide gives a yellowish tinge.

Etymology

The term "celadon" for the pottery's pale jade-green glaze was coined by European connoisseurs of the wares. The most commonly accepted theory is that the term first appeared in France in the 17th century and that it is named after the shepherd Celadon in Honoré d'Urfé's pastoral romance L'Astrée (1627), who wore pale green ribbons. (D'Urfé, in turn, borrowed his character from Ovid's Metamorphoses V.144.) Another theory is that the term is a corruption of the name of Saladin (Salah ad-Din), the Ayyubid Sultan, who in 1171 sent forty pieces of the ceramic to Nur ad-Din Zengi, Sultan of Syria.

East Asia

Chinese celadons

, National Palace Museum Greenwares are found in earthenware from the Shang dynasty onwards. Archaeologist Wang Zhongshu states that shards with a celadon ceramic glaze have been recovered from Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) tomb excavations in Zhejiang, and that this type of ceramic became well known during the Three Kingdoms (220–265). These are now often called proto-celadons, and tend to browns and yellows, without much green. The earliest major type of celadon was Yue ware, which was succeeded by a number of kilns in north China producing wares known as Northern Celadons, sometimes used by the imperial court. The best known of these is Yaozhou ware. All these types were already widely exported to the rest of East Asia and the Islamic world. dans son salon de compagnie at the Hôtel de Besenval, a portrait of the baron by Henri-Pierre Danloux (1791). The green Chinese celadon vases mounted in gilt bronze, which are visible on the mantelpiece, were sold together with their identical pendants in three lots by Christie's on 8 July 2021 in The Exceptional Sale for a total of GB£1,620,000. Longquan celadon wares were first made during the Northern Song, but flourished under the Southern Song, as the capital moved to the south and the northern kilns declined. This had bluish, blue-green, and olive green glazes and the bodies increasingly had high silica and alkali contents which resembled later porcelain wares made at Jingdezhen and Dehua rather than stonewares. All the wares mentioned above were mostly in, or aiming to be in, some shade of green. Other wares which can be classified as celadons, were more often in shades of pale blue, very highly valued by the Chinese, or various browns and off-whites. These were often the most highly regarded at the time and by later Chinese connoisseurs, and sometimes made more or less exclusively for the court. These include Ru ware, Guan ware and Ge ware, as well as earlier types such as the "secret color" (mi se) wares, finally identified when the crypt at the Famen Temple was opened. Large quantities of Longquan celadon were exported throughout East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East in the 13th–15th century. Large celadon dishes were especially welcomed in Islamic nations. Since about 1420 the Counts of Katzenelnbogen have owned the oldest European import of celadon, reaching Europe indirectly via the Islamic world. This is a cup mounted in metal in Europe, and exhibited in Kassel in the Landesmuseum. After the development of blue and white porcelain in Jingdezhen ware in the early 14th century, celadon gradually went out of fashion in both Chinese and export markets, and after about 1500 both the quality and quantity of production was much reduced, though there were some antiquarian revivals of celadon glazes on Jingdezhen porcelain in later centuries. Decoration in Chinese celadons is normally only by shaping the body or creating shallow designs on the flat surface which allow the glaze to pool in depressions, giving a much deeper color to accentuate the design. In both methods carving, moulding and a range of other techniques may be used. There is very rarely any contrast with a completely different color, except where parts of a piece are sometimes left as unglazed biscuit in Longquan celadon.

Southeast Asia

Thai celadon

Thai ceramics has its own tradition of greenware production. Medieval Thai wares were initially influenced by Chinese greenware, but went on to develop its own unique style and technique. One of the most famous kilns during the Sukhothai Kingdom were at S(r)i Satchanalai, around Si Satchanalai District and Sawankhalok District, Sukhothai Province, north-central Thailand. Production started in the 13th century CE and continued until the 16th century. The art reached its apex in the 14th century.

Vietnamese celadon

Others

Outside of East Asia, a number of artists also worked with greenware to varying degrees of success in regard to purity and quality. These include Thomas Bezanson of Weston Priory in the US and Wanda Golakowska (1901–1975) of Poland, whose works are part of the collection of the National Museum, Warsaw and National Museum, Kraków.

Further reading

Yong-i Yun; Regina Krahl. Korean Art from the Gompertz and Other Collections in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Valenstein, Suzanne G. (1975): A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

External links

Korean Celadon Pottery—World History Encyclopedia Eternal Celadon: Ceramics and Jades from East Asia

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1374142480 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.