Madeleine Orban-Szontagh - Traditional Korean Designs

Madeleine Orban-Szontagh DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC., New York Copyright 1991 by Dover Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Traditional Korean Designs is a new work, first published by Dover Publications, Inc., in 1991. This book belongs to the Dover Pictorial Archive Series. You may use the designs and illustrations for graphics and crafts applications, free and without special permission, provided that you include no more than ten in the same publication or project. For permission for additional use, please email the Permissions Department at or write to Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, New York 11501.

However, resale, licensing, republication, reproduction or distribution of any illustration by any other graphic service, whether it be in a book or in any other design resource, is strictly prohibited. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataOrban-Szontagh, Madeleine.Traditional Korean designs/Madeleine Orban-Szontagh.p. cm.eISBN-13: 978-0-486-16429-81. Decoration and ornamentKoreaThemes, motives NK1484.6.A107 1991 746.4'49619dc20 I. Title.NK1484.6.A107 1991746.4'49619dc2090-22013
CIPManufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation26646X06 2013www.doverpublications.com

I T IS OBVIOUS AT A GLANCE that Korean art participates in the greater East Asian art tradition. (It was impossible for a small neighboring nation not to be influenced by the militarily aggressive and culturally expansive Chinese giant.) Nevertheless, the art of Korea has many distinctive features of its own, features that are emphasized in the present selection of 142 motifs and designs from authentic old art works.

Connoisseurs recognize and especially appreciate the unique qualities of the royal crowns of the Old Silla dynasty, the inlaid celadon vases of the Kory dynasty and the folding screens and cabinet furniture of the Yi dynasty. At certain historic turning points, Koreans were also the tutors of Japan, transmitting Buddhism and its related arts beginning in the sixth century ( A.D. ) and establishing some of the great Japanese pottery factories in the seventeenth. Independent kingdoms first arose on Korean soil in the first century B.C. : Kogury in the north (roughly, present-day North Korea), Paekche in the southwest and (Old) Silla in the southeast. ), with the help of China, Silla conquered the other two kingdoms, to become Unified Silla, or Great Silla. (The nation was subsequently always united until 1945.) In 918, Unified Silla was replaced by a new dynasty, the Kory, which was to produce the celadon (grayish green) ceramics that are now prize possessions of museums and private collectors around the world. (The nation was subsequently always united until 1945.) In 918, Unified Silla was replaced by a new dynasty, the Kory, which was to produce the celadon (grayish green) ceramics that are now prize possessions of museums and private collectors around the world.

The Yi dynasty, Koreas last, reigned from 1392 to 1910, when the country was annexed by Japan. (All dates in the captions in this book are A.D. ) Artists and designers will be delighted with these florals, abstracts, animal studies and other motifs derived from paintings, furniture, metal-work, ceramic vessels, textiles, tiles and other objects that are part of the vigorous and arresting Korean artistic heritage. Enlarged detail from a golden buckle, lst-2nd century. Metal belt, Old Silla, 5th-6th century. Border design, Unified Silla, 771. Earrings, Old Silla, 5th-6th century. Royal robe adornments, Old Silla, 6th-7th century. Ornamental tiles, Old Silla, 6th-8th century. Saddle ornament, Old Silla, 5th-6th century Embroidered silk motifs Outlines of royal crowns, Old Silla, 5th-6th century. Motifs taken from an Old Silla vase, 6th-7th century. Elements of a royal headdress, Paekche, 6th century. Ornamental tiles, Paekche, 7th century. Part of a mural painting, Kogury, 6th century. Detail from a decorated ceiling, Kogury, 6th century. Enlarged detail, with a phoenix, from a helmet, Kogury, 5th-6th century. Motif from a lacquer casket, 1st century. Detail from a golden casket, Unified Silla, 9th century. Design symbolic of happiness and long life, no date. Traditional ornamental metal furniture mounts, no date.