Research Article
Reconsideration of the Problem of Sun-Rim Foot Bowls in Early Korean Celadon
Published: January 2003 · No. 237 · pp. 5-48
Full Text
Abstract
Production of the early celadon in Korea was directly influenced by the Yue kiln (越州窯) in China. It is well proved in the bowl with a halo shaped foot (日?底碗). Many scholars considered the bowl with a halo shaped foot found in the early celadon in Korea similar to the bowl with a doughnut shaped foot (玉壁底碗) found in the Yue kiln. Both the bowls are consistent in that width of a foot is relatively wider than that of general circle-shape foot (輪形底), however, they are greatly different in bowl shape or production technique. The bowl closely related to the bowl with a halo shaped foot that was the earliest produced in Korea is not the bowl with a doughnut shaped foot in the Yue kiln but bamboo hat shaped bowl (斗笠形碗) with a jade bracelet shaped foot (玉環底).*br* The bowl with a halo shaped foot of Korea had changed from one with narrower width of a foot to one with wider width of a foot, This development of the bowl with a halo shaped foot is contrary to the bowl with a doughnut shaped foot in the Yue kiln. This fact implies an essential characteristic of the development of the bowl with a halo shaped foot; although the bowl with a halo shaped foot was produced under the direct influence by the Yue kiln, at least in the aspect of width of a foot, then it had been developed originally without special affection from the Yue kiln.*br* This evolvement of the bowl with a halo shaped foot provides a clue on the time of the appearance of the Korean celadon. Looking into the correlation between the bowl with a halo shaped foot. which is round carved on the inner foot and has wider width of a foot. and the bowl with a doughnut shaped foot in the Yue kiln by many scholars till now is nearly meaningless. In fact. both the bowls have no special relation. What we have to be deeply concerned about in relation to the time of the appearance of the Korean celadon is the relation between the bowl with a halo shaped foot which was the earliest produced in Korea and whose width of a foot is narrower than that of the doughnut shaped foot and the bamboo hat shaped bowl with a jade bracelet shaped foot in the Yue kiln, which is very similar to the bowl with a halo shaped foot in the view of bowl shape, production technique and width of a foot. That is to say. the primary task for finding the time of the appearance of Korean celadon is to examine and compare both the bowls, and find, according to the time of production, the bamboo hat shaped bowl with a jade bracelet shaped foot in the Yue kiln is the most similar to the bowl with a halo shaped foot first produced in Korea. From this point of view, I think that the Korean celadon started to be producted in the second quarter of the 10th century.
