Ancient Korean Architecture in Context

Tuesday, July 26, 2022
8:30—10:30 am (Washington, DC)
9:30—11:30 pm (Seoul, Korea)

Program | Speaker Bios | Abstracts

This webinar, inspired by the current exhibition Once Upon a Roof: Vanished Korean Architecture, examines recent research findings on ancient Korean architecture and ceramic roof tiles created more than one thousand years ago during the Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla kingdoms. Although no buildings from these periods survive, archaeological surveys reveal the advent of distinct regional styles on the peninsula that contributed to the complex cultural exchanges taking place in East Asia from the fifth through the ninth centuries. The four featured scholars from Korea and the United States will place Korea’s earliest wooden architectural traditions in a broader East Asian context. Special emphasis is placed on roof tiles—the subject of the current exhibition—and two speakers will address the original design and fabrication of a special type of ornamented roof tile, called chimi in Korean, that crowned both ends of the main roof ridge of prominent buildings. Using examples excavated at important historical sites, specialists will address their discovery and reconstruction.

Register here: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_AAQgBlWVQBq2b3SamdiM-w

Program

8:30–8:40 am	Welcome
8:40–9:00 am	Korean Three Kingdoms Architecture in the East Asian Context Nancy S. Steinhardt, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
9:00–9:20 am	Japan’s Asukadera Viewed Through the Lens of the Korean Baekje Kingdom Temple Site of Wangheungsa Lee Byongho, Gongju National University of Education, Gongju
9:20–9:40 am	Chimi: Pieces of Ancient Korean Architectural Memory Jeong Hyun, National Museum of Korea, Seoul
9:40–10:00 am	Findings from a Re-restoration: The Original Form and Method of Production of a Chimi Excavated from the Temple Site at Mount Buso in Buyeo Hwang Hyun Sung, National Museum of Korea, Seoul
10:00–10:30 am	Q&A

Speaker Bios

Nancy S. Steinhardt is professor of East Asian art and curator of Chinese art at the University of Pennsylvania. She is author or coauthor of thirteen books, including Chinese Architecture: A History (Princeton University Press, 2019) and The Borders of Chinese Architecture (Harvard University Press, 2022), and more than 100 scholarly articles or essays, and she has given more than 400 academic or public lectures. Steinhardt has ongoing research projects in China, Korea, Japan, and Mongolia. She has won graduate mentorship awards from the College Art Association and the University of Pennsylvania. Steinhardt is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Architectural Historians.

Lee Byongho received his MA from Seoul National University and his PhD at Waseda University. While working as a curator at the National Museum of Korea for twenty-one years, Lee served as head of the Exhibition Division and the Future Strategy Division. Since August 2020, he has been teaching ancient Korean history as a professor at the Gongju National University of Education and has been researching archaeological sites of temples and capital cities of the Baekje kingdom. His research focuses on roof tiles, clay figurines, and inscribed objects excavated from Baekje temple sites in Buyeo and Iksan as well as building layouts at these sites. Lee has authored several scholarly books, including A Study of Buddhist Temples in the Baekje Kingdom (Sahoepyeongnon, 2014) and Development of Baekje Temples and Ancient Japan (Hanawashobō, 2015).

Jeong Hyun obtained his master’s degree in the archaeology of the Baekje kingdom from Jeonbuk National University in 2012. He joined the National Museum of Korea as curator in 2015. While working at the Buyeo National Museum, he organized exhibitions and conducted research on Buddhist temple sites and tumuli of the Baekje kingdom to reconstruct Baekje culture of the sixth to seventh centuries. He organized the exhibitions Baekje Wangheungsa Temple (2017) and Tomb No. 1 Donghachong at Neungsan-ri in Baekje (2019) and has also published multiple research reports, including The Jeongnim Buddhist Temple Site in Buyeo (2015), Tomb No. 1 [Donghachong] at Neungsan-ri in Buyeo (2018), and The Neungsan-ri East Ancient Tombs, Buyeo (2019). In 2018, Jeong also participated in curating the Buyeo National Museum’s special exhibition Chimi, Ridge-end Roof Tiles.

Hwang Hyun Sung has been working as ceramics and glass conservator at the National Museum of Korea since 2002, researching conservation methods and materials as well as production techniques of cultural heritage. He obtained his PhD from Chung-Ang University in 2008 with a thesis titled “A Scientific Study of Korean Copper-red Ceramics.” He has been lecturing at the graduate school of Chung-Ang University and recently taught a course at Kongju National University on conservation and scientific analysis of ceramics. He received the Best Article award in 2020 by the Korean Society of Conservation Science for Cultural Heritage for his paper titled, “A Study on the Convective Characteristics of the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje through the Incense-Burning Experiment.” His recent publications include The Conservation and Restoration – Pottery/Ceramics (2007).

Abstracts

Korean Three Kingdoms Architecture in the East Asian Context
Nancy S. Steinhardt, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

This talk seeks to place ceramic tiles featuring representations of architecture that are on view in the exhibition Once Upon a Roof: Vanished Korean Architecture in a broader East Asian architectural context. It begins with a brief overview of the architectural traditions from Korea’s Three Kingdoms (Baekje 百濟, Silla 新羅, and Goguryeo 高句麗), showing how distinctive building arrangements can be associated with each. These plans have sources in China and can also be found in Japan. The talk then turns to trans-East Asian examples of construction: the placement of bricks in underground tombs and the relationship between the subterranean structures and buildings above ground. After briefly addressing ceiling construction and octagonal ground plans, the talk returns to architecture represented on the tiles featured in the exhibition.

Japan’s Asukadera Viewed Through the Lens of the Korean Baekje Kingdom Temple Site of Wangheungsa
Lee Byongho, Gongju National University of Education, Gongju

The construction of Asukadera 飛鳥寺, Japan’s first large-scale Buddhist temple built in 588, marks an important turning point in ancient Japanese history. The establishment of the temple was a symbolic event signaling the beginning of the Asuka 飛鳥 period (538–710), and has been described as a sign of cultural achievement. Today, more than twenty-five temple sites from the Baekje 百濟 kingdom—including the Jeongnimsa 定林寺 temple site and the temple site in Neungsan-ri 陵山里—remain in Buyeo, Korea. Among these temples, reliquaries with inscriptions that were discovered from the wooden pagoda remains of the Korean temple site Wangheungsa 王興寺 have revealed that it was built in 577, about ten years earlier than Asukadera. This remarkable discovery has allowed scholars in Korea and Japan to speculate on the possibility that the Korean temple, sponsored by King Wideok 威德 (reigned 554–598), might have inspired or even served as a model for Asukadera. This presentation will examine similarities and differences between ancient Korean and Japanese Buddhist temples by comparing reliquaries discovered from the wooden pagoda remains, excavated roof tiles, and the layout of buildings, including the image hall and corridors of Wangheungsa with those of Asukadera and other ancient temples of Japan. This will further elucidate the historical significance of Baekje temples in the study of ancient temples in East Asia.

Chimi: Pieces of Ancient Korean Architectural Memory
Jeong Hyun, National Museum of Korea, Seoul

Chimi 鴟尾 is a type of roof tile that embellishes both ends of the main roof ridge of traditional Korean buildings. Resembling a bird spreading its wings toward the sky, it displays a building’s status, symbolizes auspiciousness, and is thought to dispel evil spirits. The origins of Korean chimi can be traced to ancient China; a mural on the walls of the Goguryeo kingdom’s Anak 安岳 Tomb No. 3 suggests chimi must have been widely used in architecture in Korea from at least the mid- to the late fourth century. In addition, numerous fragments of chimi unearthed from the remains of major buildings of Korea’s ancient Three Kingdoms demonstrate chimi were widely used decorative roof elements for a long time—not just in Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, but all the way to the Unified Silla kingdom and Goryeo dynasty. This presentation will discuss the development of ancient chimi, with a focus on regional and chronological characteristics, by examining major archaeological discoveries. It will also use chimi to shed broader light on the ancient Korean architectural tradition.

Findings from a Re-restoration: The Original Form and Method of Production of a Chimi Excavated from the Temple Site at Mount Buso in Buyeo
Hwang Hyun Sung, National Museum of Korea, Seoul

A chimi (roof ridge ornament) unearthed from the temple site at Mount Buso 扶蘇山 in Buyeo, currently on display in the exhibition Once Upon a Roof: Vanished Korean Architecture, was first restored by the Buyeo National Museum in 1978. However, as the restoration material deteriorated over time, it lost its integrity and was partially damaged. Traces of several emergency repairs made during consolidation treatments could also be observed. Once the decision was made to re-restore the object for exhibition, the first step was to remove the plaster that was used in previous restorations. 3D-scanning was then conducted on the chimi, which had been awkwardly restored without consideration of its original form. By revising some of the 3D scan data, it has now been re-restored close to its original form.

Removing the thick materials used in the previous restoration revealed the chimi’s original fabrication process and further shed light on why the past restoration looked unnatural. The missing parts were adjusted to recreate the original appearance of the chimi through computer modeling based on 3D scan data, resulting in a slight inclination of the body of the object. Losses were then replaced by 3D-printed parts. The body of the previously restored chimi had thirteen wings on the left and twelve on the right; a closer look at the lower right, however, revealed a trace of joined wings. Taking this into account, itwas re-restored so the left and right wings are now better balanced.