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A Study on the Characteristic and Manufacture Technique for the Gold wire of Phoenix-Shaped Glass Ewer by National Treasure No. 193 (국보 제193호 봉수형유리병 금사의 특성과 제작기법 연구)

  • Hwang, Hyun Sung;Yun, Eun Young
    • Journal of Conservation Science
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    • v.31 no.1
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    • pp.21-27
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    • 2015
  • The Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer, which is No. 193 National Treasure, was seriously damaged by a unique form of green glass pieces when excavated among a number of burial accessories of Hwangnamdaechong known to have been formed in the 5th century. While it has long been exhibited at the National Museum of Korea since its treatment for conservation treatment at conservation science laboratory in 1984, the existing adhesive materials seriously deteriorated for the 30 years, and the condition was quite unstable. The epoxy resin used as a restorative materials turned yellowing due to the light and heat so much that it was no longer able to exhibit it in a stable and effective manner. As a result, a re-treatment for conservation was conducted lately. This study focuses on the three pieces of Gold wires used to carefully wrap up the handle of the Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer broken into three pieces, which has not been studied so far. As for the analysis method for Gold wires, SEM-EDS and Stereo Microscope were used for nondestructive analysis. First of all, the result of the SEM-EDS analysis shows that the composition was Au 91.9 wt.%-Au 92.8 w.t% and Ag 5.9 wt.%-Ag 6.5 wt.%, which indicates that it was an alloy made of Au and Ag. The production technique of Gold wires was also observed by means of optical microscopes. In general, Gold wires were manufactured by a drawing process in which a lump of gold was beaten or pulled out of a hole or by a process of twisting a gold plate. However, Gold wires separated from the handle of the Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer did not involve any trace of twisting on the surface. Rather, fine vertical stripes were observed with the sections filled up. Hence, it is thought that this Ewer went through a drawing process and then was mended. As a result, no certain relation with the golden mending material used for the Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer was verified. The findings above indicate that most of the existing researches on Gold wires recognized them, not as separate remains, but merely as a component of other golden remains. Thus, there has been little systematic study on the manufacturing techniques of Gold wires. The future study on Gold wires may verify the correlation between the Gold wires used to fix the handle of the Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer, which is examined in this study, with that of golden remains in the Silla era.

Supplementary Woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana at Haeinsa Temple: Focus on Supplementary Woodblocks of the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra (해인사 고려대장경 보각판(補刻板) 연구 -『대반야바라밀다경』 보각판을 중심으로-)

  • Shin, Eunje;Park, Hyein
    • MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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    • v.98
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    • pp.104-129
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    • 2020
  • Designated as a national treasure of Korea and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the Tripitaka Koreana at Haeinsa Temple is the world's oldest and most comprehensive extant version of the Tripitaka in Hanja script (i.e., Chinese characters). The set consists of 81,352 carved woodblocks, some of which have two or more copies, which are known as "duplicate woodblocks." These duplicates are supplementary woodblocks (bogakpan) that were carved some time after the original production, likely to replace blocks that had been eroded or damaged by repeated printings. According to the most recent survey, the number of supplementary woodblocks is 118, or approximately 0.14% of the total set, which attests to the outstanding preservation of the original woodblocks. Research on the supplementary woodblocks can reveal important details about the preservation and management of the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks. Most of the supplementary woodblocks were carved during the Joseon period (1392-1910) or Japanese colonial period (1910-1945). Although the details of the woodblocks from the Japanese colonial period have been recorded and organized to a certain extent, no such efforts have been made with regards to the woodblocks from the Joseon period. This paper analyzes the characteristics and production date of the supplementary woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana. The sutra with the most supplementary woodblocks is the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra (Perfection of Transcendental Wisdom), often known as the Heart Sutra. In fact, 76 of the total 118 supplementary woodblocks (64.4%) are for this sutra. Hence, analyses of printed versions of the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra should illuminate trends in the carving of supplementary woodblocks for the Tripitaka Koreana, including the representative characteristics of different periods. According to analysis of the 76 supplementary woodblocks of the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra, 23 were carved during the Japanese colonial period: 12 in 1915 and 11 in 1937. The remaining 53 were carved during the Joseon period at three separate times. First, 14 of the woodblocks bear the inscription "carved in the mujin year by Haeji" ("戊辰年更刻海志"). Here, the "mujin year" is estimated to correspond to 1448, or the thirtieth year of the reign of King Sejong. On many of these 14 woodblocks, the name of the person who did the carving is engraved outside the border. One of these names is Seonggyeong, an artisan who is known to have been active in 1446, thus supporting the conclusion that the mujin year corresponds to 1448. The vertical length of these woodblocks (inside the border) is 21 cm, which is about 1 cm shorter than the original woodblocks. Some of these blocks were carved in the Zhao Mengfu script. Distinguishing features include the appearance of faint lines on some plates, and the rough finish of the bottoms. The second group of supplementary woodblocks was carved shortly after 1865, when the monks Namho Yeonggi and Haemyeong Jangung had two copies of the Tripitaka Koreana printed. At the time, some of the pages could not be printed because the original woodblocks were damaged. This is confirmed by the missing pages of the extant copy that is now preserved at Woljeongsa Temple. As a result, the supplementary woodblocks are estimated to have been produced immediately after the printing. Evidently, however, not all of the damaged woodblocks could be replaced at this time, as only six woodblocks (comprising eight pages) were carved. On the 1865 woodblocks, lines can be seen between the columns, no red paint was applied, and the prayers of patrons were also carved into the plates. The third carving of supplementary woodblocks occurred just before 1899, when the imperial court of the Korean Empire sponsored a new printing of the Tripitaka Koreana. Government officials who were dispatched to supervise the printing likely inspected the existing blocks and ordered supplementary woodblocks to be carved to replace those that were damaged. A total of 33 supplementary woodblocks (comprising 56 pages) were carved at this time, accounting for the largest number of supplementary woodblocks for the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra. On the 1899 supplementary woodblocks, red paint was applied to each plate and one line was left blank at both ends.