Featured Asian octagonal box

This restoration project has been more a labor of insanity than love. By the time I get it done, I will never be able to sell it for enough to get compensated for the hours involved. I picked it up for $15.00 at the thrift because I was taken by it despite knowing it needed some help. The base wood is a pressed composite and moisture had gotten to it over the years. The feet were rotten and the veneer is raised and chipped in many places throughout the body.

I started off by cutting off a 1/2" off the feet but soon found I was going to have to take off a lot more. I ended up taking off nearly 2" and losing the feet altogether. Even then, I needed to do a fair amount of gluing and reconstruction to the bottom to get it stabilized and looking good. I glued down what other veneer I could and filled the rest of the places that needed repair. Because of all the intricate hardware, I am having to hand paint this with a 1/4" brush.

I am quite happy with the progress so far but will probably have 15-20 hours work in to this by the time I am done. I better like it since it will probably need to live with me due to the labor involved. The piece is 16" across point to point and now stands 15" tall. It is a nice size for a small low table and would work as a stool as well. Yet, it is small enough to use on a table top.

The closest thing I have found to it was identified as a Korean Joseon Dynasty style box. The writing inside does look like it could be Korean. Can anyone confirm this or have any other ideas? Any other comments are also welcome.

 

No thoughts? Here is the one I found that is most similar. It doesn't open the same way but does have the same forged iron straps. Pic is from terapeak......



Here is a nearly identical box to the above on ebay AU. It doesn't seem nearly as old as the one above or as mine. Mine originally had feet like this but the bottom bridge pieces as seen on this and above were not on mine. They could have just been missing but there really was no indication that it ever had them. The writing inside doesn't seem to match mine.......

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Antique-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

Okay, I have a comment... and a question. It's interesting that you did so much work on this. (And I like the way that it looks so far.) What is it about this piece that has led you to put so much time into it? Personal fascination? The challenge of rehabbing it? Just curious.

I don't know enough about Asian printing to know whether it's Korean, but some elements of it do remind me of signs on buildings in Korean neighborhoods in Chicago.

 

Looks like you did some nice work on it. Haven't commented because I don't know the first thing about pieces like this. What I can say is that these older Asian furnishings rarely show up and when they do, they get snatched up within hours at my local thrift.

Can't help with the language. Maybe others can comment.

 

Brad, maybe you should just keep it... or, give it to the person whose name you got in the Christmas draw! Even if the person didn't say they wanted an Asian box. I'm joking about the latter, but...It's really nice.

 

The characters look Korean to me.

 

No thoughts?
Yup....cuz I'm out of my depth here !
If someone else posted this...we'd all expect YOU to comment !!

That said.......you did a fine job....& it looks really nice !!

 

Insanity?

I reckon you are getting a lot of fun out of this, and that has to be priceless

 

Maybe a clue as to original use from this picture...
Antique 19th C. Korean Horsehair Scholars Hat with Wooden Box (Dead link from this page on eBay. Ethnic hats)


Reproduction Korean Priest Hat Box
11"Diam x 18.5"H


Official's Top Hat (Gat)
DATES 19th century DYNASTY Joseon Dynasty
Official's Top Hat (Gat), 19th century. Lacquered horsehair mesh, silk, Brim: 2 3/16 x 10 1/4 in. (5.5 x 26 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, X923.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, X923.2.jpg)


Wikipedia: Gat (hat) A gat is a type of Korean traditional hat worn by men along with hanbok (Korean traditional clothing) during the Joseon period. It is made from horsehair with a bamboo frame and is partly transparent in black color.

 

Oh! I just had another idea.

It looks like you could get a good, straight-on shot of the text from the inside of the lid. With the picture, you could try an online OCR Optical Character Recognition reader to see if you can get a translation.

 

The hand wrought iron straps drew me to this and the price was right. I really did not think through what it was going to take to restore. I kind of figured I might just be able to trim the feet and spray paint it flat black right over the hardware. Once I got it home, I realized that it deserved better. I really don't like to do things half-a$$ed. Besides, if I end up keeping it, I will not be heart-broken.

The hat box information is great and appears to be right on. I will also look in to the character recognition reader as well.

 

You will do an excellent job on it and wind up keeping it!!!!! Thus spake the Aquitaine!

 

The script is Korean. You can tell because of the circles - something that does not occur in any other East Asian script, to the best of my knowledge.

 

Even after the creation of the korean hangul script (the stuff with the circles), the literati and upper class still used Chinese characters.

The script has a combination of both, meaning that it's probably meant for the middle-class; otherwise it would be either one or the other.

 

Thanks for that information. The circles are what led me to believe this was Korean in the first place. Nice to know I was on the right track.

 

Nice to know my degree in Asian Humanities is finally starting to pay off...

 

nice to see you posting here again........we could use your help as there seems to be more asian questions lately.

 

Korean hatbox

It’s. Korean Hatbox.

 

Laura figured that out in 2016...

but another opinion is always welcomed..