Boy's Vest (Baeja)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 24 Feb 1886
name: label: Donor Name
content: Ensign U S N John B. Bernadou
notes: label: Notes
content: "Late 19th century. Blue silk with linen lining. The blue-silk vest has red lining and wide armholes. It is worn over a jacket,jeogori, by young boys of aristocratic families. The front of the vest is designed shorter than the back. A band of red brocade silk across the back bears gold-embossed (geumbak) ideographs, which read figuratively yeui yeomchi (May you be proper and gracious in conduct, bringing honor and dignity to yourself). While a conventional baeja calls for tie-strings together with a fastening device similar to "hook and eye" in front, this vest has only the latter. The blue and red combination in clothing and other objects is considered auspicious, representing heaven and earth, male and female, the sun and moon, the duality of nature. Variations in fabric, color and style are determined by season, age, and social status (Yi, 1983: 389; Kim, 1988b: 220221; HUM ('Hanguk ui mi' or Beauty of Korea), 1988: 19; Jang, 1999: 169, illustration number 190). Bernadou Field Notes 145 "Pai-tja [baeja]. The characters on the ribbon at the back signify "have consideration for others; be just; be moderate in your desire." Collected in Seoul. Ref: Hough Korean Catalog p. 447; Bernadou Field Notes 145; Published "MBM 'Miguk bangmul-gwan sojang Hanguk munhwajae' or The Korean Relics in the United States", 1989: 139." [from: "An Ethnography of the Hermit Kingdom: The J.B. Bernadou Korean Collection 1884-1885", Chang-su Cho Houchins, 2004, number 18]
label: Record Last Modified
content: 11 Mar 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Korea, Asia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Not Given
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 016970
label: USNM Number
content: E77075-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Vest
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 36 cm
label: Width
content: 24 cm
label: Width
content: 41 cm