String for Men's Hat (1800s): Art, History and Details

String for Men's Hat (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Made of either agarwood or red sandalwood, this bead string was once attached to a man's hat called a gat. Each bead bears an inscribed image of fish, birds, frogs, flowers, a boy holding a peach, and some characters of auspicious meanings such as longevity and good fortune.

Object facts

• Title: String for Men's Hat
• Date: 1800s
• Culture: Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)
• Type: Jewelry
• Technique: Wood
• Dimensions: Overall: 38 cm (14 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1921.669

A detail from the museum

This bead string was attached to men's hats called a gat during the Joseon period.

Collection credit

Gift of John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• An, Myŏng-suk. “Namja polsik” in Han’guk poksiksa. Sŏul: Yehaksa, 1998.
• Ch'a, Mi-rae, Kwi-suk An, Cleveland Museum of Art, and 국외소재문화재재단. The Korean Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Edited by An Min-hŭi. First edition, English ed. Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Series, 16. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 2021.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.