Infomag  ˇµ
Carving Beauty
Nov / 2006
Najeon-chilgi, representing traditional Korean cultural products, is mother-of-pearl lacquerware made of well-dried wood and decorated with inlaid shell pieces in various designs and patterns. A seemingly worthless plain shell is transformed into a precious work of art displaying an amazing wealth of colors.
Although the technique of decorating objects with mother- of- pearl in Korea dates back to the Shilla dynasty (7~10AD), it evolved into a unique art form called Najeon-chilgi around the arrival of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392AD).
The word Najeon came from the combination of Chinese letters, Na, which means "seashell", and Jeon, which means "metal crafting ornament".
The exquisiteness and splendor of Goryeo's Najeon-chilgi was highly praised. Because the Goryeo artisans produced such splendid works of art, it soon became one of the dynasty's major artistic contributions along with celadon ceramicware and metal works. The most common and highly developed method of decorating the art works was to inlay the mother-of-pearl designs onto the pieces then glaze them with lacquer.
Favorite mother-of-pearl designs included flowers, particularly chrysanthemums and peonies, and exotic plant pattern. Some craftsmen completely covered a piece with intricate designs as a sign of status and wealth, an important quality to Goryeo society.
The reputation and artistic supremacy of Goryeo Najeon-chilgi art is indebted largely to three techniques that the artisans of the time invented. The first of these techniques is to use tiny mother-of-pearl pieces called "threads" for inlaying patterns. The second distinctive features was the combined use of wires, silver, bronze and brass with mother-of-pearl patterns. The wires, largely divided into single and twisted lines, were inlaid to form a boundary between two different patterns or part of a figure. Such use of wires in combination with mother-of-pearl significantly increased the means of artistic expression for Goryeo artisans.
The third element that distinguished Goryeo's Najeon-chilgi from similar craft in other parts of Asia was the use of colorful tortoise shell pieces. Goryeo craftsmen found they could inlay treated tortoise shell, which was just as valuable as mother-of-pearl.
A comparison between the various mother-of-pearl artwork found in East Asia over the years, shows that while the Chinese Nageon-chilgi is large and artistically skillful, the Japanese artwork has dense and artificial decoration, The Korean Nageon-chilgi, on the other hand, is graceful and calm.
The traditional technique of Nageon-chilgi is a complicated and painstaking process consisting of more than twenty steps. The manufacturing can be roughly divided into several processes: pasting hemp cloth on the surface of the wooden frame: coating the surface with natural lacquer; spraying powdered ox bone on the surface; inlaying the patterned mother-of pearl on the pitch black background; and then repetition of lacquering and polishing.
Lacquered wood surface is the canvas, while the shells are the paints. The insides of sliced shells, which are as shiny and colorful as opal, can make a hard surface when they are glued together. Then the artisan draws a design with a sharp edge of razor on the surface.
The remains are cut off from the patterns with scalper. Patterns are usually feminine and delicate, since they were usually used for house furniture, especially as dressing table.
Sculpted shells are then glued to wooden vessels, coated, and scrubbed with a whetstone or sandpaper to be smooth and sleek. Polishing is the last process. Because making Nageon-chilgi takes a lot of skill and is very sophisticated, only artisans with long period of training and endurance in the studio were able to do it.
Special Elegance
The owner of Manjeong studio and 24th intangible cultural asset, artisan Bae Keum-yong, whose Najeon-chilgi artwork has special elegance and graceful gentleness, has also gone through this long period of training. He has won many awards in various competitions and has also been selected as a New Intellectual but behind his glory.
Artisan Bae had a very poor childhood. His parents could not even afford his school and sent him to a studio. As he did not have anywhere else to go, his life followed a single path in the studio.
"In the beginning, I just got to live in the studio because they let me stay and have meals. I did not even know what Nageon-chilgi was. Other trainees could not stand hard courses and left but I had no other option, so just stayed and focused on the artwork. Once I took it as my only way to go, it was not to tough and I got used to it. Decades passed by while I didn't realize," he told Infomag, at his work studio in Seongnam, Gyeonggi province.
Soon he became independent from his master and opened his own studio. However, traditional handicraft became rarer with the advent of manufactured goods and he had to shut down his studio many times.
It was not profitable at all and many of artisans left the business, putting Najeon-chilgi at stake. His effort put into his artworks began to be paid off in the eighties, as interest toward traditional culture started coming back.
Soon afterwards, Artisan Bae won an award in Korea Traditional Arts competition. It was the beginning of his awards streak record in various craft competitions and art competitions. He was recognized as a gifted artisan and designated as an intangible cultural asset in Gyeonggi Province in 1998. He was also received the best honor and selected as "The Great Korean artisan" in 2001.
Artisan Bae began working more actively. He followed his belief of being close to public and spread beautiful traditions. His work is on the wall of Incheon International Airport VIP room and used as prop in the recent movie, "Untold Scandal." He is contributing to projects for cultural assets by restoring perfectly mums' vine patterned Sutra box in Goryeo Dynasty. (estimated to be made in the 13th century, currently stored by Japan.)
"I hope many people appreciate Najeon-chilgi and understand how wonderfully they were made by our ancestors. It's not about honor or money but young people getting used to Najeon-chilgi and foreigners appreciating Korea's excellent tradition," he said.
As Bae wanted, Najeon-chilgi is being popularizing. His disciple and son, Kwang-woo, has won many awards with his Najeon-chilgi office suppliers and household and some were even commercialized. He has taken over his father's talents thoroughly and is spotlighted in art field with his original works that contain both practicality and tradition.
"I feel sorry for the absence of museums and exhibitions for Najeon-chilgi. My dream and goal is to build a Najeon-chilgi museum that anybody can come and appreciate the artwork which is made of good materials and created scientifically, as popular tradition."
Quality goods are not good enough with luxurious brand logo. Artisan Bae's 50 years of experience, original techniques and processes, coming down from the Goryeo Dynasty, is what it takes to make quality goods!