Chapter 5 A Technical Analysis of a Goryeo-Dynasty Lacquer Incense Box in the Collection of the National Museum of Korea

Nanhee Lee

1 Introduction

The Goryeo 高麗 dynasty (918–1392) of Korea was a period of important achieve- ments in Korean Buddhist art. In particular, lacquer art with mother-of-pearl inlay (najeon chilgi 螺細漆器) displays advanced techniques and spirituality reflecting the Buddhist culture of the time; due to its graceful and delicate ap- pearance, it has attracted worldwide attention. However, only 25 of these moth- er-of-pearl inlaid lacquers are extant, including inherited and excavated pieces from the Goryeo dynasty. Among them, one inherited item and three damaged ones are in the collection of the National Museum of Korea, Seoul. The main subject of this paper is a lacquer incense box from the Goryeo period in the col- lection of the National Museum (hereafter, ‘the incense box,’ figs. 5.1–3). This box is made of lacquered wood, has a rectangular shape and is covered with a deep lid. It contains an inner tray with about 13 incense pastilles from the same period. During a survey conducted in 1990, 26 incense pieces were counted, but only 13 of the incense pastilles remain to this day.1 Some characters such as ‘old’ (gu 古) and ‘heart’ (xin 心) are engraved in the center of the incense pieces (fig. 5.10). This incense box is decorated with a willow tree, various plants, and wa- terfowl motifs, executed with gold powder and mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, and metal inlays. The most pronounced features of this box are the high level of technical skill employed in the mother-of-pearl inlay and the elegant design. In particular, the gold powder technique in combination with the mother-of-pearl inlay adds an impression of elegance and luxury to the box. The patterns used for the incense box are highly sophisticated and have an outstanding pictorial beauty. However, the box suffered damage during the

1 Most people were not aware that these were used to store incense before my paper was pub- lished in 2003. See Lee 2003, 54–68.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384385_007 108 Lee

Figure 5.1 Incense box. Lacquer with mother-of-pearl and metallic inlay, gold powder and colored tortoiseshell. Goryeo dynasty, c. 12th century. National Museum of Korea, Seoul. Joseon Gojeokdobo 1915–1935, fig. 3773

Figure 5.2 Details of figure 1. Outside box (cover), 290.9 mm × 187.8 mm × 112.1 mm. Joseon Gojeokdobo 1915–1935, fig. 3774

Figure 5.3 Details of figure 1. Inner box (body), 269.6mm × 171 mm × 103 mm. Joseon Gojeokdobo1915–1935, fig. 3775