Box for Official Seal
1 of 2
Object Label
Very large metal or jade seals were used in the Joseon period to put the stamp of approval on state documents. The seals themselves became emblems of authority, displayed at meetings and handled with great care. This is the outer storage and carrying box for a seal of the State Council, or Uijeongbu, a board of the king’s highest-ranking advisors. Nesting inside would have been a lacquered wood box that held the actual seal. This is one of the objects that the Museum’s first curator of Ethnography, Stewart Culin, acquired during his groundbreaking expedition to Korea in 1913.
Caption
Box for Official Seal, last half of 18th century. Wood, lacquered sharksin, metal fittings, 10 1/2 x 8 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (26.7 x 22.2 x 19.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1913-1914, Museum Collection Fund, 13.1078. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 13.1078_PS6.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Title
Box for Official Seal
Date
last half of 18th century
Dynasty
Joseon dynasty
Geography
Place made: Korea
Medium
Wood, lacquered sharksin, metal fittings
Classification
Dimensions
10 1/2 x 8 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (26.7 x 22.2 x 19.1 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Expedition 1913-1914, Museum Collection Fund
Accession Number
13.1078
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
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