The Korean Culture Notebook

A kundika can look unfamiliar before you know its name. Follow its outline first: rounded body, long central neck and a shorter side opening. Then read the museum’s account of its ritual use, rather than treating it as an ordinary modern pitcher. Contents 1. Make an outline note without naming every part 2. Add the museum record in a different column 3. Turn a familiar comparison into a better question 4. Questions for a first viewing 1. Make an outline note without naming every part The Met’s Korean Water bottle (Kundika), object 23.115, provides a useful starting point. Its photograph shows a rounded body narrowing into a long neck, a broad horizontal rim below the thin upper extension, and a short curved opening at one side. A dark surface with areas of green patina makes the silhouette easier to follow than every surface detail. Try drawing only the outer contour on scrap paper. Start at the base, move up one side and return down the other. Leave out decoration. Next add a dot besi...

A museum record can give a Korean ornament a more precise identity than a quick image search. Start with the object’s name, then read its materials and identifying number before deciding what its appearance means. For an American reader encountering the word norigae , one useful starting point is the National Museum of Korea’s record titled “Norigae, Pendant with Perfume Case.” It offers a small, manageable example of how to read an accessory as a collection object. One object, three different kinds of information The museum’s description, what you can observe in its image, and questions that remain unanswered belong in separate notes. Contents 1. What this particular record tells you 2. A closer-looking worksheet 3. Questions before you move on 1. What this particular record tells you The National Museum of Korea collection record names a pendant with a perfume case. It lists Korea under nationality/period, jade within its material classification, and the accession number Namsan783....

A small ceramic vessel on a Korean scholar's desk may have supplied water for preparing ink. It is easy to notice the brush and overlook this supporting tool. A ring-shaped porcelain water dropper offers a useful starting point: look at what the vessel did before deciding that its unusual shape was only decoration. Contents 1. Start with one documented object 2. Separate the tools on the desk 3. A short exercise with the official images 4. Questions before a museum visit 1. Start with one documented object The Metropolitan Museum of Art's ring-shaped water dropper is cataloged as Korean porcelain from the nineteenth century, during the Joseon dynasty. Its recorded diameter is 3¾ inches, or 9.5 centimeters, and its object number is 2004.554. The museum explains that a scholar might have used such a vessel to drip water onto an inkstone while grinding an ink stick for calligraphy or painting. It also notes the popularity of porcelain droppers in varied shapes during that centu...