Photo: National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea

Wedding robe (wonsam)

early 20th century

Korean

This brightly colored robe is one of the multiple layers of a Korean woman’s wedding dress (wonsam). The blue silk for the front and back panels was woven with the Chinese character “xi,” which means joyous, making it suitable for the occasion. The sleeves are made of silk stripes in bright pink, yellow, and green. Wonsam used to be a ceremonial robe for upper-class women, and the back panel was usually longer than the front. In this 20th-century dress, the front and back panels are of the same length, one way that the style of wonsam changed when their use expanded to commoners.

Silk gauze

73 3/4 in. (187.33 cm)

L.: 46 in.

Gift of Frank S. Bayley III

92.144

Photo: National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Feb. 8, 2020 - July 11, 2021].

Published References"Korean Art Collection in the Seattle Art Museum, U.S.A." Tajaon Kwangyaoksi: Kungnip Munhwaja Yaonguso, 2015, 149-50.

Foong, Ping, Xiaojin Wu, and Darielle Mason. "An Asian Art Museum Transformed." Orientations vol. 51, no. 3 (May/June 2020): p. 59, reproduced fig. 20 (installation view).

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