Masterpiece Hand Embroidered Classic Multi Purpose Pen Holder (Chaekgado) (by Kim Young-ja)

Overview

Not lacquerware but needlework: a desktop pen holder whose panels are covered in hand embroidery worked in the chaekgado manner, the classical Korean composition of stacked books and a scholar's implements. Every stitch is placed by hand, so the shelves, scroll ends and brush pots are built up in thread rather than printed or transferred. It is sized for a desk, and the subject matter is a small joke at its own expense — a scholar's object decorated with a picture of a scholar's objects.

Heritage & Craft

Korean jasu embroidery is worked with fine floss laid in flat, tightly packed stitches that catch light along their length, which is how the depth of the bookshelves is suggested without any shading pigment. Colour is changed thread by thread, so a piece of this density is counted in weeks rather than hours.

Chaekgado emerged in the late Joseon court and spread to scholar households: a trompe-l'oeil of shelves crammed with books, brushes, inkstones, bronzes and fruit. It announced learning as the family's real wealth, and it remains the motif Koreans reach for when a gift is meant to wish someone well in study or in their profession.

Artist

Hand-embroidered by Kim Young-ja, who works under the art name Sochun. The panels are executed entirely in hand stitching.

Specifications

• Material: hand-embroidered textile panels on a rigid frame
• Technique: Korean hand embroidery (jasu)
• Motif: chaekgado, the scholar's bookshelf composition
• Use: pen and brush holder, multi-purpose desk caddy
• Origin: Handmade in South Korea
• Brand: K-Crafts | Code: KS-P0000DFZ

Gifting

The scholarly subject makes it a natural gift for a graduation, a doctoral defence, a teacher or professor, or a promotion into a professional role. It also works as a desk piece for an office where a framed artwork would be too much.