Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392–1910

this is a wonderfully illustrated and narrated volume on the brilliant artistic accomplishments of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. Spanning almost 600 years, there is much to cover. The book does a very fine job of doing so with full page photos of paintings, ceramics, architecture, calligraphy, etc. in all its diversity and changes over these centuries. The book also was carefully wrapped and packaged to protect its contents. Well worth the price. It is difficult to find volumes of this quality in English covering Korean art history. I plan to use it as a resource for my upcoming early modern Korean history college course. Highly recommend this volume and the provider.

Great visual intro into Korean art and artifacts during the Jaseon Dynasty.

Excellent historical and pictorial overview of the Era.

Fantastic book full of beautiful Korean artifacts with great descriptions of said artifacts. This book certainly gave me a far greater appreciation for Korean antiquities. The construction of the book is magnificent. Undoubtedly a must read/own for anyone with more than a passing interest in Korea's illustrious past.

The book came as a disappointing for someone looking for the best of Korean art like those grape on the jar and landscapes. Instead it has tremendous proportion of many, many old man. Very disappointing.

This printed in Canada, Yale Press hardcover with no dustjacket of approx. 10"x12"x1.25" in 332 pps. is filled with excellent full color illustrations, and some targeted essays. There was a time some years ago when it was possible to build a substantial and extensive collection of English-language books about the cultural arts and artifacts of Korea without too much outlay of resources other than time. This was because there weren't many books on the topic that had been published. Today's situation is much changed for, in the past decade or so there has been a near constant outpouring of new books on the topic. Whereas formerly one would acquire virtually any new book he encountered on topic, at present it is necessary to make a considered choice before acquiring yet another book on this now well-reported topic.This particular book appeals because it is well-made, with many illustrations, and also because it includes some topics or aspects one doesn't often find in other books. The reason for this is the book was published to accompany a traveling museum exhibit which necessarily is more comprehensive than a typical monographic document.As such this book contains, not only the paintings and porcelains one would expect, but also furniture, apparel, and ephemera that would be used personally.Another welcome aspect of the book is the high quality of not just the reproductions themselves but also the photography, which is really top flight and does a remarkable job of allowing one to really 'see' the objects being presented. As a picture book this one hits the right notes.The book's essays, though I must confess I haven't completed the essay on Buddhism, are not as satisfying as the illustrations. While there is quite a bit of interesting and new information to be gleaned (the ritual use of placenta material, for instance), two things worked against one's appreciation of them. The first is admittedly a niggle but, as increasingly seems to be the case, the editor appears to have relied upon spell check to do the basics of editing so that words slipped by that shouldn't have, e.g. probably for probable. Yes, we do not live in a perfect world, and computing machines work more perfectly than humans for most tasks, but it's increasingly irksome that publishing houses feel it appropriate to surrender the task of sub-editor to microsoft spellcheck. I mean, come on.A larger problem with the written content is its complete neglect or censorship of the topic of dynastic decline and its effect upon the prevailing arts and culture. The essayists blithely ignore the deprivation (the word depravity also comes to mind, or senescence) and corruption endemic in the ruling class as well as, one might argue, the culture at large by at least the middle of the 19th century. The latter part of the Joseon Dynasty was a particularly painful chapter in Korea's history and willful blindness or censorship of the circumstances of Korea is an understandable reflexive reaction, but it is also one that must be resisted if one is to faithfully record and analyze the arts and culture of that civilization.Despite the censorship or lack of, let's call it, self-awareness, telling clues leak out despite the editor's best attempts at suppression; however, whether in the form of the rather artless lack of refinement of the ceramic ware found on pages 171, or the inclusion of an English-made ceramic bowl on page 297 (contrast them with the fantastic examples of earlier ceramic ware from pps. 124-131).The decline of culture is most startlingly revealed in the discussion of the 10-panel screen painted in 1948 by the functional equivalent of the old court artists which was executed upon newsprint (another interesting exploration on a completely different tangent is the effect of Oriental Mannerism upon the Pop Art of Andy Warhol, think about that for a second).A better book would have created a narrative explaining how Korea's arts struggled but persisted in the face of dynastic decline and collapse. Such a narrative would have laid the ground for the next set of books which will emerge explaining the effect of modern Korea's cultural aesthetics upon global perspectives of art and self, and how this culture sprang from the collapse of the Joseon Dynasty, subtitled 'The Uninevitability of the Rise of Korean Pop Culture From the Ashes of the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean War.I rate this book 4 stars because it is well-made; the photography is first rate; the illustrations are beautifully presented/reproduced; and because it includes some unusual items.My inclination is to assign it only 3 stars because I think the essays are not inspired enough to reconcile me to their willful blindness to a fundamental and trenchant discussion which must be addressed.

love it

This is a great book. It places the visual characteristics of the arts and crafts produced in Joseon era Korea, in the context of the cultural, philosophical and religious thought processes that informed their development. It is fascinating to understand how a formal language is underpinned by and can be derived from an intangible thought. The essays are written by Korean experts which according to me is better, because sometimes non-natives tend to analyse a different culture using the filters of their own backgrounds, which can distort the analysis. The plates referred to are at the end of the essays, something that took me a while to realise. So I had to re-read the initial essays! That's my only gripe with this book.

An excellent compilation of Joseon-era Korean Art history and culture. A great starter book if you are interested in the topic.

It's a good book to learn more about the culture and history

Comme souvent avec les expositions du metropolitan museum on a un livre catalogue de très haute tenue. relié,du papier solide,des reproductions splendides (parfois trop petites hélas pour les rouleaux peints ) et surtout du texte fort intelligible,bien écrit simplement (en tout cas le texte traduit en anglais) parfois redondant car plusieurs spécialistes écrivent et il n'y a pas de comité de lecture pour limiter les redites (c'est classique dans ce genre d'ouvrage).Un néophyte peut donc apprendre beaucoup sur la période considérée.On complète par le livre qui traite de la période précédente de Goryeo et un autre sur la période Silla (qu'on trouve facilement sur le site) et on a ainsi une vision de l'art coréen de notre millénaire passé si peu connu sauf si on se donne la peine d'aller en Corée du Sud (le Nord ne permet pas de voir grand chose!) .Et franchement çà en vaut la peine que de se familiariser avec cette culture dans de beaux et bons ouvrages avant que de se lancer dans une lecture de l'histoire de la Corée (plutot en langue anglaise qu'en français)

The antiques in this book are not very magnificent. They look rather simple and ordinary.