The Cultural Heritage Administration on Sept. 6 released this photo of the recently recovered relic Lacquered Box with Inlaid Mother-of-pearl Chrysanthemum and Scroll Design from the Goryeo Dynasty.

By Koh Hyunjeong
Photos = Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation

A wooden lacquerware inlaid with mother-of-pearl dating back 800 years to the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) has been returned to the nation.

The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) on Sept. 6 unveiled for the first time to the media Lacquered Box with Inlaid Mother-of-pearl Chrysanthemum and Scroll Design at the National Palace Museum of Korea in Seoul. The Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation reclaimed the relic from Japan. 

"The lacquerware reclaimed this time had been in the possession of a private Japanese collector for over a century," CHA said. "We first confirmed this in July last year through the foundation's network in Japan and successfully recovered it in July this year after research and negotiations that took a year."

Wooden lacquer refers to a work designed and painted with mother-of-pearl. Believed to have been made in the 13th century, the box was made with about 45,000 fragments of pearls.

CHA said its high craftsmanship is shown through its tightly packed and orderly alignment of mother-of-pearls for peony designs on the front, with the vine stems expressed through a single golden line and detailed expressions that are engraved on lines on tiny mother-of-pearl pieces.

Wooden lacquer is considered a collection of craft techniques given its high sophistication and complicated process before completion.

 
Xu Jing, an envoy to Goryeo from Song China during the 12th century, noted in his Illustrated Record of the Chinese Embassy to the Goryeo Court in the Xuanhe Era (1119–1125) that Goryeo's "mother-of-pearl inlay crafting is so exquisite that it is truly estimable."

Goryeosa (History of the Goryeo Dynasty) said the wooden lacquerware was on a list of gifts sent to "foreign courts," implying that it was highly popular in neighboring countries.

"The designs are outstanding and the original colors and gloss are alive, thus its preservation condition is excellent," CHA said. The recovery of this property is much more meaningful since it was not widely known."

This is an enlarged image of the designs on Lacquered Box with Inlaid Mother-of-pearl Chrysanthemum and Scroll Design.