Stitches Empowered: Korean Embroidery Arts from the Joseon Dynasty

Toward the latter half of the Joseon dynasty (1392−1910), when the conservative interpretation of neo-Confucian teachings became mainstream, women, regardless of their social and economic status, increasingly faced rigid restrictions in all aspects of daily life. From 8 March to 26 July 2020, The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) and the Seoul Museum of Craft Art will present an exhibition titled ‘Golden Needles: Embroidery Arts from Korea’ in CMA’s Arlene M. and Arthur S. Holden Textile Gallery and Korea Foundation Gallery. This special exhibition explores Korean fine embroidered works as tools of empowerment for women to overcome social constraints and to define their own cultural identity.

Most of the pieces on loan to the exhibition that are now in the collection of the Seoul Museum of Craft Art—wrapping cloths, sewing tools and folding screens—once belonged to the Museum of Korean Embroidery in Seoul, established in 1976 by Dong-hwa Huh (1926−2018) and Young-suk Park (b. 1932). The couple, who shared a passion for the preservation of Korean textiles and the presentation of their artistic distinction to the world, donated their entire collection to the Seoul Museum of Craft Art in May 2018. The upcoming exhibition, which previews this uniquely eclectic collection, also honours Mr Huh’s and Ms Park’s philanthropic bequest.

Featuring bold colours and striking arboreal and geometric designs, wrapping cloths, known in Korean as bojagi, were used to pack and store items such as clothing, bedding, gifts and sacred texts (Paik, 2004, p. 164). The earliest surviving Joseon period bojagi, used to store Buddhist sutras, are dated to 1415 (ibid., p. 163). The examples selected for the show were created for the wedding ceremony—a rite of passage that was particularly important in the lives of women in traditional Korean society (Figs 1 and 2). With the help of her mother and aunts, a bride-to-be spent a great deal of time embellishing silk or cotton cloth with colourful thread so that she could beautifully pack and present her dowry (Huh, 2004, pp. 28−29). Jubilant arboreal patterns evoking a tree of blissful life, the most common design in this group of embroidered wrappings, symbolize eternal conjugal happiness. The tradition of using images of blissful trees that bridge heaven and earth in Korea can be traced back to gold crowns from as early as the Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE–668 CE).

The wedding gift wrappings will be complemented by a selection of related objects from CMA’s renowned collection of Korean art. Among these, a bridal gown (K. hwarot) acquired by the museum from Langdon Warner (1881−1955), who visited Korea as a field agent to collect East Asian artworks for CMA, will be introduced as an anchor piece in the installation (Fig. 3). The gown is exquisitely embroidered with symbols relating to harmony in marriage, conjugal happiness with numerous progeny, and longevity, such as peonies, butterflies, lotus flowers, a pair of white cranes, and phoenixes. Particularly for a working-class community, the bridal gown was an important communal resource to be shared and passed down through several generations. Only the collar and the upper part of the sleeves, which are made of thick paper, were replaced, with the robe itself being reused for a number of decades. This culture of reuse explains why many surviving pieces, including this one, bear evidence of extensive repairs and patching (Chung, 2005, p. 365).

Fig. 3 Bridal gown (reverse)
Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), late 1800s
Embroidery on silk with paper, 114.3 x 174 cm
The Cleveland Museum of Art (1918.552)

A few late Joseon period essays authored by unknown women that relate to needlework and sewing tools will be introduced in interpretation panels and labels alongside the display. Lady Yu’s Eulogy for a Needle, for example, is a monologue about a beloved needle that the author used for many years until it broke:

Years ago, my uncle on my husband’s side was appointed as an envoy to China on the occasion of the winter solstice. On his return from Peking, he gave me a number of packets of needles. I sent some to my family, some to my kinfolk whether distant or close, and some to each and every servant and maid of ours. Owing to unusual misfortune, I broke or lost quite a few of the needles, but you were the only one I managed to hang on to over these many years. Even though you could never know of it, how can I not help but love you and be undone by your absence? I miss you dearly, I feel sorry for you, and I am filled with grief.
(Richards and Richards, 2007, pp. 5−6)

A Debate Among Seven Friends in the Inner Chamber narrates a heated discussion between a set of sewing tools—Madam Measure (wooden ruler), Miss Decapitator (scissors), Maiden Slender (needle), Lady Kindler (soldering iron), Lady Wailer (big iron), Colourful Bride (thread) and Granny Bonnet (thimble):

One day, the Seven, having gathered took up a discussion of their merits. Madam Measure, showing off her long slender waist, announced: ‘Pay attention, all of you! When one is tailoring clothes, whether for men or women, using fine silk or rough silk, or white linen or fine linen, or gossamer silk, whether it is blue, red, or green, or a heavy silk brocade, how can one figure length and width, seam allowances, and patterns without me? My contribution in tailoring clothes is paramount!’
(Richards and Richards, 2007, pp. 8−9)

This humorous essay will be published in an interpretation panel that complements a display of traditional sewing tools—wooden rulers, thimbles and a lacquer tray for storage (Figs 4 and 5).

Fig. 4 Thimbles
Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), early 1900s
Embroidery on silk and cotton, overall 2.8 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm
Seoul Museum of Craft Art (2018-D-Huh-3025–3056)
(Image courtesy of Seoul Museum of Craft Art)

The grouping in the Textile Gallery showcasing the embroidered wrappings, bridal gown and sewing tools is closely connected to the lives of women during the Joseon period, which were tightly bound to the inner quarters and the custom of arranged marriage. The accompanying writings by women of the time elucidate their compounded sorrow and frustration at the social constraints imposed on them, which they concealed within their colourful works of embroidery:

What a pity, what a pity! Our brilliant talent! What a pity!
No matter how talented we may be, of what use is it?
It’s useless, it’s useless. Woman’s enthusiasm for success is useless!
We cannot gain merit and fame …
(Häussler, 2004, p. 157)

A group of colourful embroidered folding screens in this gallery will introduce women as artists striving for sophisticated artistry and professionalism. Dating to the late 19th or early 20th century, the folding screen in Figure 6, which features an image of birds and flowers, is an excellent example of a work that highlights women’s delicate tastes. While deeply tuned to poetic subjects originating from literary classics like plum blossoms and pine trees, artists did not shy away from expressing aesthetic sensibilities shared with other female artists, such as the playful and candid. The various birds—cranes, pheasants and mandarin ducks—depicted in this folding screen demonstrate affection for each other. Such a theme implies that this folding screen was presented to a newly married couple as a wedding gift.

Ancient Bronze Vessels, a ten-panel folding screen featuring the use of golden threads, will be shown in the Textile Gallery as an important example of the close collaboration between female embroiderers and male painters serving the royal household (Fig. 7). Although rare in traditional Joseon society at large, such collaborations were fostered under the auspices of the Joseon royal court in order to secure the finest artistic outcome and to create painting-like embroidery. Here the embroiderers have accurately rendered a set of shining bronze vessels, based on a design provided by a court painter who understood the shape of each vessel and its corresponding ritual function.

Such collaborative works produced at court—as well as works created by male elite painters and male working-class embroiderers collaborating beyond the court—will be the focus of the Korea Foundation Gallery. The embroidered screen with a design of ten longevity symbols in Figure 8 will be presented here as another outstanding example of the professional collaboration between female embroiderers and male artists at court. Only the finest female court embroiderers participated in the work on large-scale folding screens such as these, having mastered a wide range of sophisticated stitches. Girls as young as seven and eight were recruited from working-class families to the royal embroidery studio, the Subang (Hwang, 2013, p. 18).

By the end of the 19th century, professional male embroiderers had begun to organize workshops that specialized in large-scale folding screens. The city of Anju in Pyongan province, known for its high-quality silk manufacture, emerged as the centre of embroidery products by male embroiderers. Anju male embroiderers applied multiple layers of under-stitching using thick, untwisted silk threads, and their works were highly praised for their sculptural surface texture. Despite their high price—the cost of a large-scale embroidered Anju screen was equivalent to that of a house in downtown Seoul (Kim, 2017, p. 176)—Anju screens were one of the most sought-after luxury commodities. Even the Joseon royal court, which operated its own embroidery studio, was among the major patrons of Anju screens.

Fig. 7 *Ancient Bronze Vessels*
Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), late 1800s
Ten-panel folding screen, embroidery on silk, each panel: 147.3 x 34.5 cm
Private collection

Fig. 8 *Ten Longevity Symbols*
Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392−1910), 1700s
Eight-panel folding screen, embroidery on silk, each panel: 141 × 45.7 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts (1985.14)
(Image courtesy of Detroit Institute of Arts)

The twelve-panel embroidered folding screen Geese and Reeds is an example of an Anju screen that was owned by the Joseon court (Fig. 9). Its last panel bears the artist’s signature, which reads: ‘Respectfully drawn by your servant Yang Gi-hun’ 臣楊基薰敬寫. The nearly identical painted version by this artist, Yang Gi-hun (1843–1919?), is in the collection of the National Palace Museum of Korea in Seoul (Fig. 10). Both the embroidered and painted screens once decorated the king’s private chamber. Yang, a professional painter who frequently worked for royal patrons, provided the Anju embroiderers with the preparatory drawings of refined literati subjects within dramatic compositions he had made, as a basis for their designs.

‘Golden Needles: Embroidery Arts from Korea’ reclaims works of embroidery by anonymous Korean women artists in patriarchal Joseon society as tools of awareness of the constraints on female expressivity, elucidating how such works transformed social and cultural restrictions into a potent source for extraordinary artistic creativity. Embroidery was not restricted to women alone, however. The exhibition further illuminates the act of stitching as a metaphor for empowerment that belonged to both genders, focusing on collaboration across gender and class, which became increasingly common as the Joseon period drew to a close.

Fig. 9 Detail of *Geese and Reeds* showing the last three panels of the left screen
Design by Yang Gi-hun (1843–1919?), Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392−1910), 1905
One of a pair of twelve-panel folding screens, embroidery on silk, each panel: 200.5 x 33.5 cm
Seoul Museum of Craft Art (2018-D-Huh-0046)
(Image courtesy of Seoul Museum of Craft Art)

Fig. 10 *Geese and Reeds*
By Yang Gi-hun (1843–1919?), Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392−1910), 1905
Ten-panel folding screen, ink on silk, each panel: 125 x 43.7 cm
National Palace Museum of Korea (Changdeok 6556)
(Image courtesy of National Palace Museum of Korea)

Sooa Im McCormick is associate curator of Korean art at The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Selected bibliography

Young Yang Chung, Silken Threads: A History of Embroidery in China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, New York, 2005.

Sonja Häussler, ‘Kyubang Kasa: Women’s Writings from the Late Choson’, in Young-Key Kim-Renaud, ed., Creative Women of Korea: The Fifteenth Through the Twentieth Centuries, London and New York, 2004, pp. 142–62.

Dong-hwa Huh, ‘Characteristics of Bojagi’, in Bojagi’s Simple Elegance, The Museum of Korean Embroidery, Seoul, 2004, pp. 18–39.

Hwang Jeonng-yeon (Hwang Jung-yon), ‘19-20 segi cho Joseon gungnyeo-ui chimseon hwardong-gwa gungjung jasu seohwa byeongpung-ui jejak’, Hanguk geunhyundai misulsahak 26 (2013): 7–37.

Kim Soojin, Joseon hugi byeongpung yeongu, PhD dissertation, Seoul National University, 2017.

Paik Kumja, ‘A Celebration of Life: Patchwork and Embroidered Pojagi by Unknown Korean Women’, in Young-Key Kim-Renaud, ed., Creative Women of Korea: The Fifteenth Through the Twentieth Centuries, London and New York, 2004, pp. 163–73.

Kyung-Nyun Kim Richards and Steffen F. Richards, Classical Writings of Korean Women, Seoul, 2007.

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