a while back a friend invited me to something called malbok
and i ended up posting a picture of the table here. we talked about the food
already. i said i’d come back about the dishes, so here that is.
after the malbok party i kept thinking about it, so i asked jay over lunch at
work. that afternoon i found out where the name “korea” comes from and where
jay’s family comes from.
the bowl in that photo is cheongja, which gets translated as celadon.
specifically a modern reproduction of goryeo cheongja.
goryeo is the dynasty, roughly 918 to 1392, and that’s where the word “korea”
comes from. jay said the dynasty took its name from goguryeo, an older kingdom.
goryeo cheongja is from the goryeo dynasty, not goguryeo. in the photo it’s
that blue-green. bisaek, he called it. he said it means kingfisher color,
after the bird.
the bowl in that photo is cheongja, which gets translated as celadon.
specifically a modern reproduction of goryeo cheongja.
goryeo is the dynasty, roughly 918 to 1392, and that’s where the word “korea”
comes from. jay said the dynasty took its name from goguryeo, an older kingdom.
goryeo cheongja is from the goryeo dynasty, not goguryeo. in the photo it’s
that blue-green. bisaek, he called it. he said it means kingfisher color,
after the bird.
he also walked me through the inlay technique, sanggam. you carve the design
into the clay while it’s still wet, pack the grooves with a different colored
slip, scrape it flush, then glaze and fire. so the pattern isn’t sitting on
top of the bowl. it’s inside the wall itself. the cranes and clouds on the
famous pieces are all made that way.
somewhere in there i asked him, so is this common knowledge for koreans?
he said, hm. i don’t know. i didn’t grow up in korea.
turns out his mother’s father is a third-generation zainichi korean. the
family goes back to potters who were taken to japan during the occupation.
so jay and i both have questions.
first, is goryeo cheongja something everyone in korea grows up knowing?
second, can you still buy a reproduction like the one i photographed? i’d like
to pick one up if i ever make it over there.
submitted by /u/jhhan-ken156
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