Korean Ceramics

8000–6000 BCE

DONGSAM-DONG (Busan)

Oldest pottery in Korea

  • Hand-built

  • Plain, unglazed

  • Pit- or bonfire-fired

  • Round / conical bottoms

  • Coastal hunter-gatherer community
    → Beginning of Korea’s ceramic tradition

~6000 BCE

OSAN-RI (Gangwon-do)

Early Neolithic pottery

  • Simple earthenware

  • Minimal decoration

  • Early transition from pre-ceramic to ceramic society

7000–6000 BCE

JANGHEUNG (Gangwon-do)

Early coastal pottery

  • Plain vessels, thick-walled

  • Early settlement life

  • Used for boiling seafood & plants

5000–3000 BCE

YUNGGIMUN (Raised-Pattern Pottery)

First decorative Korean pottery

  • Applied strips, bumps, dots

  • Relief patterns (3D texture)

  • Low-fired, hand-built
    → Early artistic expression

8000–1500 BCE

JEULMUN POTTERY (Comb-Pattern Culture)

(Long era with overlapping phases)

Key Site: AMSA-DONG (Seoul)

3500–2000 BCE

  • Iconic comb-incised zigzags & waves

  • Conical-bottom jars

  • Burnished surfaces

  • Large Neolithic village
    → First distinct Korean ceramic identity

1500–300 BCE

MUMUN POTTERY

Agricultural transition

  • Plain, utilitarian pots

  • Storage jars & cooking vessels

  • Still low-fired

  • Early farming communities

300 BCE–300 CE

PROTO–SAMHAN / EARLY IRON AGE

Tech advances begin

  • First semi-kilns

  • Early wheel use

  • Beginning of high-fired gray ware

300–668 CE

THREE KINGDOMS (Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla)

High-fired stoneware emerges

  • 1100–1200°C firing

  • Incised & stamped decoration

  • Kiln technology expands

  • Burial & ritual ware

668–935 CE

UNIFIED SILLA

Stoneware refinement

  • Standard forms

  • Early celadon-like glazes

  • Complex kiln systems

918–1392 CE

GORYEO CELADON

Peak of Korean ceramic artistry

  • Jade-green celadon (비색)

  • Sanggam inlay (Korean invention)

  • Lotus, cranes, clouds

  • International prestige

1392–1910 CE

JOSEON DYNASTY

Early Joseon

  • White porcelain (baekja)

  • Blue-and-white cobalt

  • Iron-painted ware

Late Joseon

  • MOON JARS (17th–18th c.)

  • Buncheong ware

  • Provincial folk traditions

Continuous from antiquity to now

ONGGI

Korea’s living earthenware

  • Fermentation jars (kimchi, doenjang)

  • Paddle-and-anvil construction

  • Breathable clay

  • Central to food culture

20th–21st Century

MODERN & CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS

  • Revival of celadon & buncheong

  • Modern Moon Jar interpretations

  • Wood-fired traditions return

  • Sculptural, conceptual ceramics rise

  • Global recognition