Now, the rest of the art

Now, everything else that I deemed worth sharing from my museum visit. I have tons of extra pictures, but even they don't do this place justice.

Again, I will refer to the following Korean historic eras:

• Three Kingdoms period, 57 BCE - 600 or so
• Unified Silla, 600 or so - 918
• Goryeo (Koryo), 918 - 1392
• Joseon (Choson), 1392 - 1910 (1897 - 1910 is called "Korean Empire")
• Japanese occupation, 1910 - 1945
• Republic of Korea, 1948 - today

The Confucian fundamentalist state of Joseon was known for its white porcelain pottery, which was a break away from the famous blue celadons of the earlier Goryeo era, which, to the Confucians, stood for excessive materialism, corruption, and Buddhism.

But I'd rather have the blue celadons any day. Customers in China, Japan, and Arabia agreed too. This is a water pitcher in the shape of a person.

This temple bell, typical of Korean bells, was cast in early Goryeo, in 1010.

Unified Silla was known for its "Pensive Bodhisattva," widely believed to portray the Maitreya Buddha (known as Happy Buddha in China). This style later took off in Japan as well. But honestly though, I prefer the big-bellied, funny-looking Chinese Happy Buddha.

A gigantic statue of Sakyamuni (Main Buddha).

Maitreya Buddha on the left, Amidabha Buddha on the right.

In Korea, Maitreya tends to be put outdoors in huge statues.

This thing is called "dadeumi," and is a stone on which articles of clothing are put and hammered to iron out wrinkles. Although China and Japan had similar objects, they eventually died out - while dadeumi continues to be used in rural Korea today.

Korean shaman figurines. In Korea, the politically correct/legal term for shamanism is "minsok jonggyo" which translates into "folk religion." After lengthy Confucian, Christian, and political persecution, shamanism is being rediscovered today.

This frieze shows Sakyamuni (Main Buddha) in the lower center, with Amidabha, Vairocana, and Medicine Buddhas above.

A Three Kingdoms-era figurine depicting a monkey, the ninth out of twelve symbols of the Chinese zodiac.

Last time I came here, I shared a Goguryeo (one of the Three Kingdoms, of the Three Kingdoms era) frieze. Goguryeo occupied North Korea and Manchuria, and its friezes are extremely rare outside North Korea. This is another Goguryeo frieze, showing a hunting scene, and it came from Nampo, North Korea.

Last time, I also shared a book about the Korean alphabet, proclaimed by the king in 1446, and the only artificial alphabet to ever find widespread use. And above is the text of the proclamation itself. It reads:

"Being of foreign origin, Chinese characters are incapable of capturing uniquely Korean meanings. Therefore, many common people have no way to express their thoughts and feelings. Out of my sympathy for their difficulties, I have invented a set of 28 letters. The letters are very easy to learn, and it is my fervent hope that they improve the quality of life of all people. - King Sejong"

The 28 letters are combined into a box-shaped combination which represents a syllable. According to displays nearby, modern Korean (24 letters, the other four having gone obsolete) can represent 11,172 distinct syllables. Edwin O. Reischauer, Professor of East Asian Studies at Harvard University (and also the co-inventor of the McCune-Reischauer system of romanized Korean, used by South Korea until 2000 and still used by the US and North Korea), was quoted in 1960 as calling this writing system "the most scientific ever."

The Confucian educated elite, however, continued to look down on this alphabet as "vernacular language" or "women's script," and widespread use didn't occur until the rise of nationalism in the dying days of Joseon (around 1890s).

And of course, being the hopeless lesbian that I am, I must also note that King Sejong was also known for a lesbian daughter-in-law.

Books on Korean indigenous philosophy, written in the late 19th Century, in the Korean alphabet. Nearby (not pictured) are Buddhist and Christian texts in Korean as well, the latter allowing the Korean Christians to claim their (now-obsolete) reputation as forward thinkers.

A Goryeo-era Buddhist text. This is only a replica; the original, the last (and only existing) volume of an anthology, now sits in the French National Library. It is important because it is the oldest book definitely known to have been printed with movable metal type. While China invented the movable type (in wood), it was Korea that invented the metal version, out of necessity after Mongol invasions of the 13th Century had burned many wooden blocks.

In the Western world, the Gutenberg Bible is considered the first-ever book printed with movable metal type. But that was 1450 - centuries after this book.

As I was taking the photo above, two Christian women were next to me, whining about the preponderance of Buddhist art and utter lack of Christian art in the museum. Proof that the Korean Christians still don't get it.

A Joseon-era world map. Note the exaggerated size of Korea. Click on the photo for the geographical labels that I added, to better understand the map.

The only Republic of Korea-era relic I will post here today. This is South Korea's national flag, which was flown to the moon by Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. US President Richard Nixon returned the flag to South Korea's Unitary Executive, then-President Park Chung-hee, in this vacuum seal along with four pieces of moon rock; it was in the possession of Park's family before being donated to the nation in 1984.

Flogging was a common punishment in royal Korea. The bottom piece is a commonly used paddle for the purpose. I really want to take it to flog someone - notably W.

Bells and a mirror used for shaman ceremonies.

A scroll depicting a Joseon envoy entering Edo (Tokyo), Japan.

From the 1860s on, as the Westerners started to arrive in Asia, Korea's crown prince (who was ruling due to the young age of the king, his nephew) took a hardline isolationist approach. (This reminds me of North Korean anti-imperialist posters of today.) After driving the French out in 1866 and the Americans in 1870, he erected this stone in downtown Seoul. It reads as follows:

"As Western barbarians invade our land, to not fight is to accommodate, and to accommodate is treason.

I will warn our descendants for a long time. This message is written in 1866 and erected in 1871."

Japan forced Korea open in 1876, and Westerners followed in the 1880s on, but by then, Korea was too weakened to survive, eventually becoming a Japanese colony in 1910.