• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.98
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• pp.176-199
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• 2020

In 2018, the National Museum of Korea purchased a pair of Japanese folding screens, respectively entitled Gathering on the Year's First "Day of the Rat" and Boating on the Oi River. Both of these two screens (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "NMK edition") have a gold background that bears the seal and ink inscription of Tosa Mitsuyoshi (1700-1772), who served as edokoro azukari, a painter in the court of Kyoto. According to the seller in New York, the screens were brought from Japan to the United States in the early twentieth century, but no other details are known. Each folding screen has six panels. The screen on the right (i.e., Gathering…) depicts "nenohi no asobi," an annual event conducted on the first "day of the rat" (according to the Asian zodiacal calendar), wherein the Kyoto imperial court ventured to the woods to gather pine seedlings. The left screen (i.e., Boating…) shows three boats traveling down the Oi River in Kyoto, representing the ritual known as "mifune" (literally, "three boats"), which involves three boats representing Chinese classical poetry (kansi), Japanese classical poetry (waka), and Japanese imperial music and dance (gagaku). Notably, these two screens are identical in theme and iconography to two screens with the same respective titles that were commissioned by Emperor Komei (1831-1867) and painted by Ukita Ikkei (1795-1859), an artist of the Yamato-e Revivalist School (fukko yamato-e), now in the collection of Sennyu-ji Temple in Kyoto (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Sennyu edition"). While both of these themes have been painted independently numerous times, the NMK edition and Sennyu edition are the only known cases of the themes being painted as a single set. According to Diary of Official Business Between the Court and Shogunate (the journal of a court official named Hirohashi Kanetane, 1715-1781), Tosa Mitsuyoshi was commissioned in 1760 to replace the fusuma (rectangular sliding panels) of Tsunegoten, one of the buildings of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, which had been built in 1709. Notably, records show that Tsunegoten once contained a series of fusuma painted by an artist of the Kano school on the themes "Outdoor Procession on a Spring Day" and "Three Boats Cruising on the Oi River." Hence, it seems probable that Tosa Mitsuyoshi was influenced by the theme and iconography of the existing fusuma in producing his own folding screens depicting the court's visit to the forest and a cruise on the Oi River. While the practice of collecting pine seedlings on the first "rat day" of the year was an auspicious event to pray for longevity, the mifune ritual was intended to honor the greatest talents of the three aforementioned arts, which were of crucial importance to the court of Kyoto. Folding screens with such auspicious themes were commonly featured at the ceremony to enthrone the emperor or empress. Significantly, the Diary of Official Business Between the Court and Shogunate also records that Tosa Mitsuyoshi, while working as a court artist, produced two pairs of folding screens for the coronation of Empress Go Sakuramachi (1762-1771), which was held in 1763. Hence, research suggests that the NMK edition is one of the pairs of royal folding screens produced at that time.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.4-19
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• 2017

Kim Jeong-gi (pen-name: Changsan, Mar. 31, 1930 - Aug. 26, 2015) made a major breakthrough in the history of cultural property excavation in Korea: In 1959, he began to develop an interest in cultural heritage after starting work as an employee of the National Museum of Korea. For about thirty years until he retired from the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage in 1987, he devoted his life to the excavation of our country's historical relics and artifacts and compiled countless data about them. He continued striving to identify the unique value and meaning of our cultural heritage in universities and excavation organizations until he passed away in 2015. Changsan spearheaded all of Korea's monumental archeological excavations and research. He is widely known at home and abroad as a scholar of Korean archeology, particularly in the early years of its existence as an academic discipline. As such, he has had a considerable influence on the development of Korean archeology. Although his multiple activities and roles are meaningful in terms of the country's archaeological history, there are limits to his contributions nevertheless. The Deoksugung Palace period (1955-1972), when the National Museum of Korea was situated in Deoksugung Palace, is considered to be a time of great significance for Korean archeology, as relics with diverse characteristics were researched during this period. Changsan actively participated in archeological surveys of prehistoric shell mounds and dwellings, conducted surveys of historical relics, measured many historical sites, and took charge of photographing and drawing such relics. He put to good use all the excavation techniques that he had learned in Japan, while his countrywide archaeological surveys are highly regarded in terms of academic history as well. What particularly sets his perspectives apart in archaeological terms is the fact that he raised the possibility of underwater tombs in ancient times, and also coined the term "Haemi Culture" as part of a theory of local culture aimed at furthering understanding of Bronze Age cultures in Korea. His input was simply breathtaking. In 1969, the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage (NRICH) was founded and Changsan was appointed as its head. Despite the many difficulties he faced in running the institute with limited financial and human resources, he gave everything he had to research and field studies of the brilliant cultural heritages that Korea has preserved for so long. Changsan succeeded in restoring Bulguksa Temple, and followed this up with the successful excavation of the Cheonmachong Tomb and the Hwangnamdaechong Tomb in Gyeongju. He then explored the Hwangnyongsa Temple site, Bunhwangsa Temple, and the Mireuksa Temple site in order to systematically evaluate the Buddhist culture and structures of the Three Kingdoms Period. We can safely say that the large excavation projects that he organized and carried out at that time not only laid the foundations for Korean archeology but also made significant contributions to studies in related fields. Above all, in terms of the developmental process of Korean archeology, the achievements he generated with his exceptional passion during the period are almost too numerous to mention, but they include his systematization of various excavation methods, cultivation of archaeologists, popularization of archeological excavations, formalization of survey records, and promotion of data disclosure. On the other hand, although this "Excavation King" devoted himself to excavations, kept precise records, and paid keen attention to every detail, he failed to overcome the limitations of his era in the process of defining the nature of cultural remains and interpreting historical sites and structures. Despite his many roles in Korean archeology, the fact that he left behind a controversy over the identity of the occupant of the Hwangnamdaechong Tomb remains a sore spot in his otherwise perfect reputation.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.196-221
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• 2011

The Royal Private Shrines or the Samyo(私廟), were dedicated to members of Choseon's royal family who could not be enshrined at the (official) Royal Ancestral Shrine, the Jongmyo(宗廟). The Samyo were constructed at the national level and were systematically managed as such. Because these private Shrines were dedicated to those who couldn't belong to the Jongmyo but were still very important, such as the ruling king's biological father or mother. The details of all royal constructions were included in the State Event Manuals, and with them, the two-dimensional layouts of the Samyo also. From the remaining "Hyunsa-gung Private Tomb Construction Layout Record(顯思宮別廟營建都監儀軌)" of 1824, which is the construction record of Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine(景祐宮) dedicated to Subin, the mother of King Sunjo(純祖), it became possible to investigate the so far unknown "The Painting of Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine", in terms of the year produced, materials used and other situational contexts. The investigation revealed that the "The Painting of Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine" is actually the "Hyunsa-gung Private Tomb Layout" produced by the Royal Construction Bureau. The bureau painted this to build Hyunsa-gung Private Shrine in a separately prepared site outside the court in 1824, according to the royal verdict to close down and move the temporary shrine inside the courtyard dedicated to Subin who had passed away in 1822. As the Construction Bureau must have also produced the Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine Layout, the painter(s) of this layout should exist among the official artists listed in the State Event Manual, but sadly, as their paintings have not survived to this day, we cannot compare their painting styles. The biggest stylistic character of the Painting of Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine is its perfect diagonal composition method and detailed and neat portrayalof the many palace buildings, just as seen in Donggwoldo(東闕圖, Painting of a panoramic view for Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung Palaces). A well-perceiving architectural painting employs a specific point of view chosen to fit the purpose of the painting, or it can opt to the multi-viewpoint. Korean traditional architectural paintings in early ages utilized the diagonal composition method, the bird-eye viewpoint, or the multi-viewpoint. By the 18th century, detailed but also artistic architectural paintings utilizing the diagonal method are observed. In the early 19th century, the peak of such techniques is exhibited in Donggwoldo(Painting of a panoramic view for Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung Palaces). From the perfect diagonal composition method employed and the details of the palace buildings numbering almost two hundreds, we can determine that the Painting of Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine also belongs to the same category of the highly technical architectural paintings as Donggwoldo(Painting of a panoramic view for Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung Palaces). We can also confirm this hypothesis by comparing the painting techniques employed in these two paintings in detailthe way trees and houses are depicted, and the way ground texture is expressed, etc. The unique characteristic of the Painting of Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine is, however, that the area surrounding the central shrine building(正堂), the most important area of the shrine, is drawn using not the diagonal method but the bird-eye viewpoint with the buildings lying flat on both the left and right sides, just as seen in the "Buildings Below the Central Shrine(正堂以下諸處)" in the State Event Manual's Painting Method section. The same viewpoint method is discovered in some other concurrent paintings of common residential buildings, so it is not certain that this particular viewpoint had been a distinctive feature for shrine paintings in general. On the other hand, when the diagonalmethod pointing to the left direction is chosen, the top-left and bottom-right sections of the painting become inevitably empty. This has been the case for the Painting of Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine, but in contrast, Donggwoldo shows perfect screen composition with these empty margins filled up with different types of trees and other objects. Such difference is consistent with the different situational contexts of these two paintings: the Painting of Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine is a simple single-sheet painting, while Donggwoldo is a perfected work of painting book given an official title. Therefore, if Donggwoldo was produced to fulfill the role of depiction and documentation as well as the aesthetic purpose, contrastingly, the Painting of Gyeongwoo-gung Shrine only served the purpose of copying the circumstances of the architecture and projecting them onto the painting.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.46-61
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• 2023

Various Buddhist metal artifacts were excavated from the Heungjeon-ri Temple site from 2014 to 2020, such as gilt-bronze openwork decorations, a bronze kundika, a lion incense burner with a handle and lion weight, and so on. The gilt-bronze openwork decoration founded from the main hall of the western area is believed to have been used for the decoration of the Buddhist temple, and it is considered to be the best example of the gilt-bronze openwork decorations of the unified Silla that have been discovered so far. The incense burner with a handle and lion weight excavated from Heungjeon-ri Temple site is the earliest example of the style. The bronze kundikas excavated at the Heungjeon-ri Temple site have a more developed style than those of Ingaksa Temple. The bronze bowl and bronze bowl with a lid are similar to those excavated from the Anapji, Hwangryongsa Temple site, and Inwangdong Temple site. So these bronze vessels seem to have spread from the capital city to the provinces. Bronze seals excavated from the Heungjeon-ri Temple site are similar to those of the Hwangnyongsa Temple site in form and font. So, it was considered that they were produced and sent by the royal palace. In addition, "梵雄官衙之印" on the seal can be said to show that Heungjeonri Temple site was related to the organization of the monks at the time. The Buddhist metal artifacts excavated from Heungjeon-ri Temple site are believed to have been used from the early to mid-9th century at the temple by the Seon Order monk who was the main character of the monument. It can be said to be an important example of how the royal palace of Unified Silla and local crafts had a two-way influence, not a one-way influence, from the first half to the middle of the 9th century.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.160-171
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• 2019

The sword with a ring pommel, which was excavated from the first stone chamber of the ancient tombs of Jeongchon Village in Naju, is a sword with a pentagon undecorated ring pommel consisting of a mother sword and two child swords. The sword with an undecorated ring pommel of Jeongchon comprises a ring pommel, a hilt, a knife, and a knife end decoration. This sword was coated with lacquer. The ring pommel is an iron frame covered with silver plate; however the silver tarnished into a light purple due to silver chloride corrosion, and iron corrosion originated from the inside is visible on the surface. Silver chloride corrosion is produced when silver objects are exposed to water, dissolved salts, and dissolved chloride ions when in a buried state. It changes objects into powder, making it difficult to preserve original shapes. The other silver artifacts found in the Jeongchon ancient tombs show similar signs of corrosion. The results of X-ray irradiation and a CT analysis showed that the sword had a ring at the end of the handle, a T-shaped hilt, and was probably connected to the handle end of a knife. If the shape of the mother sword can be inferred from the child swords, the mother sword had a ring pommel, decorations of the handle, covered with silver plate, and a gold ring and a silver line wound around the handle. It is assumed that the ring pommel was connected to the knife by welding because no holes were observed. The end decoration of the knife was made by using an iron plate formed into a shape, half covered by silk, and the other half decorated with silver plate and a gold ring. The sword with an undecorated ring pommel excavated from the ancient tombs of Jeongchon Village comprises the metals of gold, silver, and iron, and includes features of Baekje, Silla, and Gaya, which highlights the influence of surrounding historic sites and various cultures.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.211-225
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• 2018

The Stupa of the State Preceptor Jigwang from the Beopcheonsaji temple site in Wonju (National Treasure No. 101) was built in the Goryeo Period (around the 11th century), with very excellent style and techniques. It was returned to the Korea after being taken to Osaka of Japan without notice in 1912, and was severely damaged during the Korean War. Subsequently, the Stupa was restored using restoration materials like mortar, and relocated to the National Palace Museum of Korea. Surface contaminants in the Stupa primarily existed around the restoration materials. Black discoloration, which indicates a high discoloration grade, signified a high possession rate in the north and inner regions of the Stupa, which may be related to the relative moisture maintenance time. Most surface contaminants were calcite and gypsum; the black discoloration area underwent secondary discoloration due to air pollution. Moreover, the stone properties exhibited a relatively low discoloration grade, exhibiting crystallized contaminants that partly covered the rock-forming minerals. Overall, the Stupa deteriorated due to discoloration and being covered by lime materials, which were dissolved as the mortar degraded. Hence, it required contaminants removal, surface cleaning and desalination during conservation treatment, in order to control the rate of physicochemical deterioration by contaminants.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.207-222
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• 2018

Celestial Chart Stones (original and reproduction) in the National Palace Museum are representative scientific cultural heritage of Korea. Material analysis and nondestructive deterioration assessment were conducted for long-term preservation of these stones. Material analysis revealed that the original was composed of slate and the reproduction was made of dolostone. The original consists of quartz, mica, dolomite minerals, while the reproduction was made up of dolomite, calcite and forsterite. Major deterioration factors of the original stone were cracks and breakouts. In case of the reproduction, scratches and artificial materials were mainly observed. The green and black surface contaminants present at the sides and back of the two celestial chart stones were interpreted as resin-based paint materials. The physical property evaluation using ultrasonic velocity showed a low velocity in the upper left side of the original, while the front right side of the reproduction showed a weak property. Meanwhile, the To-Tc method using ultrasonic velocity was applied to major cracks that impede stability of the original. As a result, it has been calculated that the beginning and the center of the crack are the deepest.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.187-196
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• 2020

In this study, we tried to reproduce some of the cosmetics from the Joseon period based on the previous analysis of the cosmetics excavated from the tomb of Princess Hwahyup. The two cosmetic powders, the white powder consisting of lead(II) carbonate and talc and the cinnabar-based red powder, were reproduced according to the records from the 6th to the 19th centuries. We also studied the degradation profiles of these reproduced samples by comparison of XRD patterns. Basic lead carbonate of the reproduced white powder turned into lead(II) carbonate, while the reproduced red powder showed different crystalline structure from the excavated cosmetics even after the degradation. Results of the evaluation tests showed that these reproduced cosmetics fell short of the standards set for the modern-day cosmetics, but based on their mixing ratio, the spreadability and oil absorption capacity of some samples of the reproduced white powder were found to be similar to those of the modern cosmetics.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.421-427
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• 2011

This study aimed to figure out the numbers and note distributions and sexagenary cycles of old pyeongyoungs systematically, and estimate the nominal frequency of whangjongeum, the Korean tradition pitch standard. As a total 214 old stones in the National Palace Museum, the National Kukak Center, the Kukak National High School were counted by notes and sexagenaries. The nominal frequencies of 17 old whangjong stones' sounds were categorized by cluster analysis method. Using nominal frequencies of stones according to their sexagenaries and Korean traditional intonation were used to estimate the nominal frequencies of the whangjong. The nominal frequency can be estimated by 22 Keychuk stones as 266.9 Hz, by Cheongyu and Gabja stones as 262.4~262.5 Hz, and by Gabjin, Sowha 12 and Sowha 13 as Estimating by 22 Kyechuk stones which were matched with the records. These results seem to be more reliable, because it is based on the whol samples of old pyeongyoungs, while the former studies have been based on couples of whangjong stones' sounds.

• 보존과학연구
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• s.32
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• pp.53-60
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to investigate the traditional manufacturing technique of lacquering by comparing and analyzing materials used for wooden lacquerware artifacts with focus on the Joseon dynasty Eugye, and to apply the manufacturing technique to the conservation treatment of the lacquerware. artifacts. This study conducted the documentary survey focusing on "Yongjo Jeongsun Queen Consort Garye Dogam Eugye",and "Jeongjo Gukjang Dogam Eugye." The royal lacquering is roughly classified into three categories-scarlet lacquering, quality black lacquering, and terra rosa lacquering- according to materials used for lacquerware. The bean flour was mostly used for under lacquering of the articles which was offered to the king and in case of other articles, bean flour was used mixed with bone ashes. In some cases, burned pine soot was added to under lacquering. Japanese scarlet lacquering was applied by mixing maechil-main coat, in inverted commas- with Japenese scarlet after lacquering jeonchil-base coat, in inverted commas-. In case of Chinese scarlet lacquering, part of terra rosa was used mixed with red clay. For quality black lacquering, basically jeonchil and maechil were used, but sometimes part of burned pine soot was added. In addition, terra rosa lacquering was applied by basically using terra rosa mixed with red clay. Lastly, gloss was given by using perilla oil. It is expected that the traditional materials and technique examined through both documentary and relic research will contribute to advanced result of the conservation treatment of wooden lacqueringware artifacts.