Bridal Robe (Hwarot) (late 1800s): Art, History and Details

Bridal Robe (Hwarot) (late 1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This bride's robe is exquisitely embroidered with various symbols of happiness in colorful silk threads. Butterflies stand for marital happiness; the phoenix, numerous offspring; and lotus flowers and white cranes, longevity. Yet, the bridal robe does not attest to the life of luxury. To the contrary, many traces of repairs, trimmings, and patchwork, reflect Joseon period women’s commitment to value neo-Confucian aesthetics of frugality and modesty. Substantial repairs and patching reveal that this robe served as an important communal resource to be shared and passed down through several generations. Its collar and sleeves are covered in thick white paper; this paper is replaced with new paper for each bride, while the robe itself was reused for decades.

Object facts

• Title: Bridal Robe (Hwarot)
• Date: late 1800s
• Culture: Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)
• Type: Garment
• Technique: Silk: satin weave; embroidery; paper edging on neck and sleeves
• Dimensions: Overall: 114.3 x 174 cm (45 x 68 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1918.552

A detail from the museum

This bride's robe is made of densely embroidered silk, but its collar and sleeves are covered in thick paper.

Collection credit

The Worcester R. Warner Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Suh, Kisook. The Documentary Value of Repairs to the Hwarot, the Korean Bridal Robe. DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 2006.
• Seon Seung-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011.
• Artistic Court Embroidery [아름다운 궁중자수]. Seoul: National Palace Museum. 2013.

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.