[KS] Percival Lowell

[Martina Deuchler]

Dear List Members,

The elite did indeed collect--not necessarily art (in the widest sense), but items related to their ancestors, such as ancestral portraits, writings (munjip), calligraphy and paintings, genealogies, examination certificates, written documents of all kinds (so-called komunso), official attires and personal items, etc. Such family treasures were typically preserved in the domestic ancestral shrines or in special containers stored in the taech'ong, tarak, or sadang.

In recent times, elite families have constructed their own store houses, such as the Unjanggak (containing items pertaining to Kim Song-il) in Kumgye or the Yongmogak (containing items pertaining to Yu Song-nyong) in Hahoe. 

Thanks to the dedication of the descendants of famous and less famous ancestors, thousands of komunso have been preserved (despite the wars) and are now being published by the Academy of Korean Studies. These documents constitute an invaluable source of historical knowledge.


Martina  Deuchler


Prof. Dr. Martina Deuchler, FBA
Schoorenstr. 48
CH-8802 Kilchberg ZH
Switzerland
Tel. +41-(0)43-377 53 31
martina.deuchler at sunrise.ch




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