Brazier with handles

Ceramics of the Three Kingdoms and Gaya Federation (57 BCE–668 CE)

The era of the Three Kingdoms (Old Silla, Goguryeo, and Baekje) and Gaya Federation saw the production of a variety of vessel shapes, ranging from small cups with stands to magnificent pedestals and globular jars with and without impressed cord decorations. Many of the ceramics have accidental glazes, either natural glazes like ash that are achieved by being fired in an open area, or applied glazes that result from being fired in underground kilns. From the beginning of the fourth century, potters began to create ceramic forms— such as large, bulbous, round-bottomed jars— on potters’ wheels and fired them in tunnel-like climbing kilns built above ground on gentle slopes, which could reach temperatures of around 1000 degrees Celsius.

These impermeable stonewares served practical purposes such as holding water, wine, and grain. Some were used for funeral rituals and then buried in tombs to serve the needs of the deceased in the afterlife. Korean ceramics of the types shown here influenced early Japanese ceramics; related objects can be seen in Gallery 25.