• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.2
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• pp.51-64
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• 1978

In reviewing our costume history, it is noted that costume bas been used as a yard stick for symboliying various social status. During the Lee Dynasty in which confucianism was the predominant religion, costume color, design and its fabric varied distinctly according to class, sex, age, occasion, et al. As in other field of our culture, costume was influenced by the Chinese culture. Although gilding was derived from the Chinese-originated gold-spun fabrics, no credit and praise should be spared for our ancestors of the Lee Dynasty who developed gilding artistry as our own. The use of gilded costume was confined to the formal court wear rather than casual wear even in court and to the nobles than to the commoners. Even among the nobles, gilding designs variously classified were used to distinguish the class. However, the modernization triggered by fores-Japan Annexation Treaty destroyed the traditional cable systems, thereby the limited use of gilding has yielded to the vast demand on the part of general populace.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.679-700
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• 2012

This study aims to examine Mark Twain's criticism of American capitalistic ideals in the late nineteenth century. During this second industrial revolution, industry showed rapid growth and capitalism established an order, while America suffered under the monopolization of capitalistic conglomerates. This resulted in the widening gap between the rich and the poor and the dehumanization caused by rapid industrialization. In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Hank Morgan, the protagonist--who represents nineteenth-century America's industrialism, individualism, and capitalism--is sent back in time to the sixth century of Arthurian England. Hank attempts to introduce nineteenth-century technologies and machines to build a capitalistic system in the middle ages. However, Hank's efforts lead to disaster in which the country and civilization he worked to build is completely destroyed. Although Twain does not deny capitalistic ideals, he criticizes the "governmentality" that operates Hank's reform system to the extreme. Hank values efficiency and utilizes human beings as capital. Hank's economic reason not only transforms the Round-Table knights into speculators but also transforms their religious acts and abstract ideals into moneymaking businesses. The destructive ending anticipates the World Wars and the Great Depression in the first half of twentieth century and even serves to predict the dangers that follow.

• Art History and Visual Culture
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• no.22
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• pp.254-279
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• 2018

This essay traces the origin and the social function of medieval knights in Edwin Austin Abbey's murals ${\ll}$The Quest of the Holy Grail${\gg}$ in the Boston Public Library. Medieval knights in the Arthurian legend appeared in American novels at the end of 1850s and in political cartoons in the 1870s. They are featured in American Renaissance murals as well. ${\ll}$The Quest of the Holy Grail${\gg}$ painted in 1895 was the first of its kind. In Britain, the Pre-Raphaelites frequently painted medieval knights. Abbey fused the visual idiom of the Pre-Raphaelites and that of the Royal Academy of Arts in his depiction of knights. Unlike the Pre-Raphaelites, who usually focused on knights' activities, he emphasized their virtue. His representation of knights reflect the social and economic crises in America in the 1890s. After the Civil War, American society enjoyed economic prosperity but suffered from government corruption, economic inequality, and class conflict. Serious social problems such as poverty and inequality decayed American society. Writers and artists brought attention to these issues. This essay argues that Abbey criticized capitalists and expressed his hope for progress through the figure of Galahad as the iconic representation of civic virtue in ${\ll}$The Quest of the Holy Grail${\gg}$. Installed in the Boston Public Library, Abbey's murals performed a public function to warn the viewers of economic and social chaos resulting from government corruption. Abbey's American knights not only emphasized moral responsibility but also promoted patriotism. The artist refashioned medieval knights into American citizens, whose civic virtue became essential to an ideal leader in American society.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.245-254
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• 2021

In this study, organic materials in Dancheong specimens were analyzed to establish a Dancheong preparation method in Unhangak Hall of Hwaryeongjeon Shrine, Suwon. IR and pyrolysis/GC/MS were applied to a Zuhong specimen and a gilded one. The IR spectra showed absorption peaks corresponding to C-O, C=O, OH, although they were different from those of animal glue, Asian lacquer, and drying oil. The Pyrolysis/GC/MS after the on-line methylation revealed Asian lacquer-derived components, such as methyl 7-(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl)heptanoate, and drying oil-derived components, such as nonanedioic acid, dimethyl ester. Based on these results, we estimated that Asian lacquer and drying oil were used in the Dancheong preparation. Small amounts of 3-methyl-1H-pyrrole were also detected, which could possibly originate from animal glue. The radiocarbon age of the specimens appeared to be between the late 17^th to the early 20^th century. This study potentially reports the first case of Asian lacquer detection in a Dancheong specimen in Korea.