60 Korean mother-of-pearl lacquerware (Najeon Chilgi) An art-technological investigation of a Joseon dynasty clothing box from the collection of the Museum für Lackkunst in Münster KEYWORDS: Decorative surfaces; East-Asian lacquer (KR: Ottchil); mother-of-pearl lacquerware (KR: Najeon Chilgi); material analysis; cross-cultural collaboration. The Master's project presented here is the product of a collaboration between the Cologne Institute of Conservations Sciences (CICS, TH Köln), the Museum für Lackkunst in Münster (MfLK) and the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation (OKCHF). In the framework of this project the MfLK invited the conservator Mr. Yang Seog Joong to treat a lacquered clothing box (Ostanga) from their collection at the CICS workshops. The author accompanied Mr. Yang during his stay, and thus had the rare opportunity to learn from a specialist of Korean lacquer (Ottchil). This project was expanded to include the current ongoing Master's thesis, which will concentrate on Korean mother-of-pearl lacquerware (Najeon Chilgi) of the Joseon period (1392-1910), as exemplified on the aforementioned object – a rectangular wooden box decorated with black lacquer and inlaid with large mother-of-pearl pieces cut into flora and fauna motifs. Najeon Chilgi has a centuries long tradition in Korea which persists to this day. However, it is relatively underrepresented in the professional conservation literature. Due to unfortunate historical circumstances of political turmoil in the region, much information on the chronological development of this decorative technique has been lost. Researchers in the field of Korean Art History express the necessity of intensifying scientific investigations for the purpose of dating extant object more accurately. The present study is conducted as an arttechnological investigation, aiming to collect material evidence to the dating of the box. With the support of the conservation scientists at the CICS a set of analytical tools will be employed: optical and fluorescence microscopy, X-Ray, FTIR, PyGCMS and SEM-EDS. It is hoped that results of the technical investigation will corroborate the research conducted at the MfLK and assist researchers of Korean Art and East-Asian lacquer in the future. Thanks to the involvement of Mr. Yang in the project, invaluable lessons about historical and technological aspects, as well as trends of conservation in South-Korea and values for preservation from Mr. Yang’s perspective can be incorporated in the thesis. This new format of educational collaboration will be presented from the point of view of conservation student trained in the West. alma.benyossef[at]gmail.com
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