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Facebook - Nationality/Period
Joseon Dynasty
- Materials
Silk Fabric - Silk
- Author
Kim Deuk-sin(金得臣, 1754-1822) and others
- Category
Culture / Art - Letter & Paintings - Paintings - painting
- Dimensions
151.5×66.4cm(Image, Folding screen)
- Accession Number
Deoksu 1042
During the Joseon Dynasty, bookcases were essential pieces of furniture in a sarangbang, a special room where the male head of the household would inhabit, study, and receive male guests. The most prestigious households maintained separate libraries in which to keep their most treasured books, but it was considered practical and proper to keep a bookcase in the sarangbang for those books that were used frequently. This particular three-tiered bookcase exudes a simple austere beauty exemplifying the design standards of the Joseon era. The doors are made of wood from an odong tree which has been seared with an iron and then scrubbed with bundles of rice straw. This process, called the nakdong method (烙桐法), removes the soft fibers from the board and leaves only the solid hard grain of the wood. This technique to expose the pristine beauty of the natural wood grain was primarily used for sarangbang furniture. Although such furniture is obviously artificial, it retains so much natural beauty that an observer can almost feel the breath of the wood. As a central feature of a sarangbang, this type of furniture mirrors the scholar’s dignity and nobility.
