Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Korean lacquerware masters showcased in Japan exhibition
A promotional poster for “The Design Room of Master Najeon Artisans” / Courtesy of Seoul Museum of Craft Art
By Lee Kyung-min
For more than a century, the defining characteristic of "najeonchilgi" — Korea’s traditional mother-of-pearl lacquerware — has been its ability to capture light. Thinly sliced, iridescent shells are inlaid into dark lacquer, creating intricate landscapes and geometric patterns that shimmer with a quiet, fractured glow.
Now, this meticulously demanding craft is stepping into the spotlight in Japan, a neighbor with its own deeply rooted lacquer traditions, in a major exhibition exploring the shared history and modern evolution of the art form.
The Seoul Museum of Craft Art said Friday that its traveling exhibition, “The Design Room of Master Najeon Artisans,” opened Thursday at the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo. Running through Aug. 8 before moving to Osaka, the showcase features 110 objects, including finished masterpieces and, crucially, the rare design blueprints that guided the artisans' hands.
By pairing original ink drawings with the completed lacquerware, the exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the intellectual labor behind the craft. It features seminal 20th-century masters — including Jeon Seong-gyu and Kim Bong-ryong — who elevated a fading dynastic court tradition into a vibrant modern industry.
Yet beneath the aesthetic beauty lies a complex story of cross-cultural exchange between Korea and Japan, one that survived the fractures of 20th-century history. The exhibition traces how pioneering Korean artisans traveled to Japan in the 1920s to work under the Joseon Najeonsa workshop. There, they adopted modern Japanese metal fretsaws, a technological leap that allowed for unprecedented precision and expanded the geometric possibilities of Korean shell inlays. Decades later, during the 1970s and 1980s, masters like Min Jong-tae and Kim Tae-hee found a lucrative and appreciative market in Japan, exporting lacquerware tea caddies and incense containers that subtly influenced Japanese tea ceremonies.
Concluding with contemporary works by modern masters like Kim Seong-su and Song Bang-woong, the exhibition argues that najeonchilgi is not a static relic, but a living dialogue. In bringing these pieces to Tokyo, organizers hope to deepen cultural ties through the universal language of extraordinary labor.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.