Korean embroidery techniques and artifacts have a long history, but there is the most evidence from the Joseon Dynasty, after the 14th century in Korea. This article talks about the history, styles, preservation, artists, and examples of screens, costumes, and domestic wares of this exacting and beautiful art form.
People used needles made out of bones of fish or animals to sew and weave animal skins and the bark or leaves of trees.
Chasu, the Korean word for embroidery, was a method of cultivating beauty in every corner of daily life. Pokshik chasu, kiyong chasu, kamsang chasu and Buddhist chasu are the four types of Chasu.
Pokshik chasu is the embroidery on clothes. Kiyong chasu is the embroidery decorated on various materials used in the king’s palace. Kamsang chasu represented a type of artistic piece. Buddhist chasu came from Buddhism. Buddhist chasu was used in the statues of Buddha or various temples. Chasu has begun from the prehistoric era when the humans first started to make clothes.
History
Traditional embroidery of Korea has a long history and has expressed the aesthetic qualities of Korea according to the changes of the times. The embroidery has been cultivating beauty with delicate skill in every day life through the stiffness of needle, sweat and stitches along with weaving and sewing, and also the national emotions have blossomed in.
Traditional embroidery of Korea used silk cloth and thread mainly before the Three Kingdoms of Korea and had a special gloss and texture. As a result, the aesthetic effect of embroidery was expressed as beautifully as possible. This silk embroidery was first introduced in Persia, became popular in Iran, and was known to have been brought to Korea through India and China.
Prehistory
In the Bronze Age, there are ferrules made of soil or stone, large and small crocodiles, stone needles, and needle houses. It can be inferred that weaving and sewing were already done at the time when such spinning tools and sewing tools were unearthed.
Following the Bronze Age, iron farming came into being in the Iron Age, and agriculture was remarkably developed. Textile cultivation technology developed and textile production increased. In the case of "Three Kingdoms" and "Huh Hanbook", it is said that this time, it was cultivated horse and mulberry trees and raised that silkworm cocoons, including cotton seeds, mapo, and coops.
The development of these fabrics is a basic requirement for embroidery development. In the granting of the transfer of the "Three Kingdoms", "the grantor wears clothes made of silver, gold, silver, and silver when he goes abroad", and the number is recorded as silver silk embroidered with gold and silver.
The embroidery is presumed to have been embroidered on clothes, flags and wagons with signs indicating the rank and class of the ruling class at that time, although the facts of this age are not conveyed to today because of the nature of the materials which are easily damaged . Literary records of the embroidery before the Three Kingdoms period are only fragmentary about the embroidery and the fabric used in the Goryeo, Goguryeo, Mahan, Jinhwan, Changjin, and Yeon before the Three Kingdoms period.
Samgukside (Three Kingdoms Period) In this age, production tools and production technology have been developed in general and productivity has improved. As a result, weaving machines have been improved and weaving has been developed. And the kinds of fabrics have increased and quality also has improved. Therefore, embroidery decorations would have been performed on clothes and various textile products. However, the literature on embroidery is scarce and there are no examples of embroidery artifacts left yet. Among the unearthed artifacts of Gyeongju Cheonmachuk excavated in 1973, traces of gold silk were found on the hem.
In the Samguk sagi and Samgukyusa, the Silla Dynasty Queen (Jinduk Queen 4) sent "Taipyeong Song" to Tang dynasty. The "Taepyeongsong" embroidery, which was produced as a diplomatic gift at that time, is a masterpiece in which 100 Chinese characters combined with 5 and 20 lines are embroidered. The content was a ritual that praised Gojong's dignity.
The number of "Taepyongsong" suggests that firstly, embroidery has made a great contribution as a diplomatic gift to represent the friendship between nations. Secondly, the record that the queen squeezed her handmade silk was important for embroidery, including sewing, weaving and dyeing, as a household art that women should acquire from their childhood, from noble to commoner.