An ethnography of the Hermit Kingdom

By Chang-su Houchins

Subjects: National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)., Art collections, Antiquities, Arts, Catalogs, National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Asian Cultural History Program, Korean Arts, Private collections

Description: In 1884, Smithsonian Secretary Spencer Baird appointed J.B. Bernadou, a naval officer, to gather a collection of material culture from the Hermit Kingdom, which had been closed to outsiders until 1882. Baird gave Bernadou the official title of "Smithsonian Attache" to the American Legation. Richly illustrated with beautiful color photographs, An Ethnography of the Hermit Kingdom will interest art-, social-, and diplomatic-historians; anthropologists; linguists; students of Korean culture; and all those who appreciate the aesthetic quality of these objects, and the stories they tell. This ethnographic catalogue of historic Korean objects includes chapters that cover a wide range of pre-industrial material and intellectual resources (including ceramics, textiles, furniture, paintings, manuscripts and maps) that illustrate Korean life styles, values, philosophy, and aesthetics.