Last week we investigated the interior of the largest and most beautiful Korean
chest or cabinet at Lotherton Hall. The Gascoigne family collected
four of these, and we know from the furniture catalogue by
Christopher Gilbert, published in 1978, that the insides have been
viewed before.
We located
some keys, and one let us unlock the outer doors, to see
the 10 drawers inside.
All four cabinets are from the late
Joseon dynasty (1392-1897), and date from around 1800-1830. Their
fairly simple decoration indicates that they are men’s chests
rather than women’s chests (see the elaborate decoration on the
women’s chest in the Philadelphia Museum for comparison).
The cabinet, of upright rectangular
design, is attached to a low stand with shaped rails and bracket
feet; and has flush-panel double doors. The door junction is masked
by strip of bass finely engraved with pots of flowers while the
circular elaborately lobed escutcheon, decorated with flowering trees
and birds, bears six medallions featuring the six syllabled Sanskrit
mantra ‘Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ’, well known from Buddhist
scriptures.
Because Confucianism was dominant in the Joseon Dynasty
and it provided a unifying perspective for artistic styles, this
Buddhist inscription is unusual. It may well mean that this
particular cabinet was used by monks in one of the Buddhist temples.
The outer door handles are backed by profiles of flying bats, symbols
of good fortune, and the design detail also includes fishes (a
symbol of wealth).
Normally these chests were made for the
men’s study room (Sarangbang). In Korea the use of these treasure or
seal chests was adopted from Japan, from where the name was also
taken, Japanese Kap-kae-susuri became Korean Kap-kae-suri. In Korea
the woods most commonly used are pine or paulownia.
Korean
traditional furniture was designed to be suitable for the lifestyle
of sitting on the floor. This floor was warmed by under-floor
heating, taking the heat from the slightly lower kitchen area and
dispersing it around the house. Korean traditional houses, han-ok,
had relatively low ceilings and small living spaces. Low furniture
helped to give the interior more of a feeling of space, and also
fitted with fashionable aspirations for a minimalist well-ordered
look.
Find out more about Korean furniture:
- Traditional Korean Furniture by Man Sill Pai and Edward Reynolds Wright, published in 1984. Wright’s collection is now in the Wiseman Art Museum in Minneapolis.
- Korean Antique Furniture & Accessories by Mathieu Deprez , published 2014.
- Kofum.com gives a good overall impression of traditional Korean architecture and interiors.
By Myunghae Seo, Voices of Asia Intern
