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Box for Official Seal

Asian Art

Very large metal or jade seals were used in the Joseon period to put the stamp of approval on state documents. The seals themselves became emblems of authority, displayed at meetings and handled with great care. This is the outer storage and carrying box for a seal of the State Council, or Uijeongbu, a board of the king’s highest-ranking advisors. Nesting inside would have been a lacquered wood box that held the actual seal. This is one of the objects that the Museum’s first curator of Ethnography, Stewart Culin, acquired during his groundbreaking expedition to Korea in 1913.
MEDIUM Wood, lacquered sharksin, metal fittings
  • Place Made: Korea
  • DATES last half of 18th century
    DYNASTY Joseon dynasty
    DIMENSIONS 10 1/2 x 8 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (26.7 x 22.2 x 19.1 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 13.1078
    CREDIT LINE Museum Expedition 1913-1914, Museum Collection Fund
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Box for Official Seal, last half of 18th century. Wood, lacquered sharksin, metal fittings, 10 1/2 x 8 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (26.7 x 22.2 x 19.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1913-1914, Museum Collection Fund, 13.1078. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 13.1078_PS6.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 13.1078_PS6.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2012
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