Korea

Korea

An embroidered apron from about 1900 is housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. It has a satin ground material and is worked with silk and gold thread. It was acquired in Seoul in 1919 by a Christian missionary. The panel is attached to a white silk band (daedae) outlined in black. The apron, called a husu in Korean, was worn at the back, together with a hat and another belt (see illustration).

A Korean panel with a length of 125 cm and with fine embroidery is housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The panel is worked on a silk ground material with gold paper thread and silk thread. The panel was used for the over-robe of a Korean bride in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. She would wear this over-robe at her entrance to her new husband's family home.

The Mansudae Art Studio complex in Pyongyang, North Korea, is perhaps the largest 'art' production complex in the world. According to its official webside, run by the Italian firm of Pier Luigi Cecioni, the North Korean firm employs some 4000 people and covers a surface of some 120000 square metres. It produces a wide range of objects, including ceramics, (huge) bronze statues, oil paintings, and embroideries.

An embroidered pillow end from Korea, dating to the late nineteenth century, is housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It is made of wool embroidered with silk and metal threads. These embroidered ends were sewn onto each end of a soft cylindrical pillow, the embroidery providing stiffness and volume.

Pojagi is a traditional patchwork cloth from Korea. It is also known as bojagi or bo. It is made by sewing together irregularly shaped pieces of cotton, silk, hemp or ramie cloth. The resulting square or rectangle is used to wrap, store or carry a variety of objects, such as bedding, Buddhist scriptures, food or gifts.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses an embroidered rank badge from seventeenth century Korea. It is made of silk damask worked with silk and gold threads. The embroidery shows a crane holding the Plant of Eternal Youth. The crane is surrounded by stylised waves, rocks and clouds. The badge in the Museum is one of a set of two. It measures 26.7 x 23.8 cm.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a late nineteenth or early twentieth century paper and wood sewing box. Such paper boxes were brightly coloured and decorated with butterflies, bats and/or the t'aeguk mark (the two circled commas that denote the harmony of the universe). These boxes were used to keep needlework tools.

Subo (수보) is embroidered pojagi cloth. Subo was used in Korea, among others, for wrapping gifts for newly engaged couples. The name derives from su for embroidery, and bo for pojaki/bojaki, or even bo. The cloth was often made from a silk or cotton ground material.