IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 16615 accession number: O.12-1984 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Thursday 24 October 2019 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: Toilet box with buddhist motifs. Wood, covered with reverse-painted horn, with metal fittings. The cover of this box can be folded back to support a rectangular mirror which is hidden inside. Beneath it are two tiers of drawers for cosmetics. The box is made of pinewood and covered with plaques of painted ox horn, a technique called hwagak. This involved cutting, flattening and polishing pieces of horn into thin translucent squares, which were then painted on the reverse and attached to the box. The nine plaques of the top are decorated with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, a goat, an elephant, tigers and tortoises, the twelve plaques on each side and the nine on the back with similar animals as well as deer, peonies and camellias, and the six plaques of the front with further Buddhas, peonies, a tortoise and a horse; they are painted in light green, yellow, and bright red on a red background. The lock, handles, hinges and corner fittings are made of 'white bronze' (paektong). title: box NOTES ----- type: history note value: unknown before donor LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Applied Arts collection: Gompertz Collection creditline: Gompertz Gift STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/16615 PEOPLE ------------------- Buddhas Bodhisattvas SUBJECTS ------------------- goat elephant tortoise Tiger horse (animal) deer peony camellia goat elephant tortoise Tiger horse (animal) deer peony camellia CATEGORIES ------ category: boxes (containers) DATING ------ creation date: 1800 - 1900 creation date earliest: 1800 creation date latest: 1900 culture: Choson Dynasty (1392 - 1910) culture: 19th Century CREATORS -------- maker: Unknown DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Height units: cm value: 19.4 dimension: Length units: cm value: 27.0 dimension: Width units: cm value: 19.8 CITATIONS -------- Han'guk ui Mokch'il Kagu Korean Art from the Gompertz and Other Collections in the Fitzwilliam Museum, A Complete Catalogue Korean Days - Korean Art in Europe ---