This study considered the dyeing and patterns on felting carpets and wool weaving carpets of the Korean traditional craft works and living necessaries(that is, carpets, rugs and blankets of our living necessaries), centering around the remains in existence
For the purpose of this study, weaving carpets and machine wool which are housed in Onyang Folk Museum and Sookmyung Women's University Museum have been photographed, measured and examined to consider their dyeing and patterns.
This section discusses the historical background of the Korean felting carpets and wool weaving carpets, It has been recorded in a data selection of the Korean Dress History and the Supplementary Korean Dress History that the inflow of wool culture into Korea started from the ancient times. A record of sheep raising can be seen from "Koryosa(History of Koryo)." "Samguk sagi(History of the Three Kingdoms)" and "SeJong silrok(The true record of King Sejong) There is also a record of exporting to foreign countries, especially Japan, According to "Japanese Records," sheep was exported by Lee, Jang-haeng, a Shilla person, in May 820 The kinds and quantities of exported sheep were recorded in the book According to "Samguk sagi," governmental officials below the 2nd-grade officials were inhibited from using three kinds of felting carpets and wool weaving carpets out of seven kinds of carpets, and felting carpets and wool weaving carpets were made at a skin & wool weaving carpet workshop under the direct control of a King.
In "Jeongchangwon(a huge Japanese temple's warehouse for storage of remains)" of Tongdaesa Temple in Nara, Japan, 14 pieces of single-colored carpets and 30 pieces of floral or figured carpets which were made in Shilla during the eighth century have been housed The fact that there was a trading exchanged by the Shill a Court other than an official diplomatic mission such as the Korean Correspondence Mission invited by Japan was recorded in an old book, called "Mae Shill a Mulhae(a Shill a Article Listing)" The fact is also supported by tags or labels which were attached to export items at that time.
Conclusion
1. In terms of historical characteristics of the Korean wool weaving carpets, the felting carpets and wool weaving carpets discovered in Korea would be the kinds of carpets, exported to Japan by the Shilla Correspondence Missions and the Diplomatic Missions from the seventh or eighth century to the Yi Dynasty, which had also served as a trading connection of the noble classes.
The Shilla-made export items housed in "Jeongchangwon" include eleven kinds of incense burners, seven kinds of dye and pigment, six kinds of drug, eight kinds of ware, pine nuts, 12 kinds of carpets, musical instruments, ink sticks, mirrors, glasses, floral carpets, ginseng, musk skins, brassware, spoons. etc. More than a hundred kinds of such items have been recorded in "Mae Shilla Mulhae" The twelve kinds of felting carpets and other figured floral carpets were discovered out of them.
In this sense, except 44 pieces of Shilla-made felting carpets and wool weaving carpets kept in "Jeongchangwon," the wool weaving carpets which Onyang Folk Museum acquired again from an art museum and bear the Korean Correspondence Mission's tags or labels are greatly likely to be ones housed in the art museum after the Japanese nobel class imported them through the mission. For the figured ones of the wool weaving carpets, some have been created in our traditional patterns and the others have been produced on an order basis in the patterns to the taste of the Japanese Royal Family and rich classes.
Natural dyeing from the Shilla Kingdom to the early Yi Dynasty used the same dyestuff as applied in the traditional period. For the dyeing of felting carpets and wool weaving carpets exported by the correspondence missions, the threads dyed by hand were used. Though there are slight differences in the ingredients of thread, hand-woven state, dyeing period and maker, on the whole the carpets were hand-woven in the foresaid colors and in the patterns. They had similarities in terms of colors and patterns. It could be seen from the fact that they have been made in the same craft workshop or a family with a specific grade
2. After performing color examination, using a color chart and a color difference meter, the colors and dyeing of the Korean wool weaving carpets were compared and reviewed with the colors obtained by doing dyeing according to the traditional dyeing methods recorded in the ancient literature. Dyestuff and dyeing materials much used in wool weaving carpets included indigo dye. barbery shrub, madder, sappan wood, wild mulberry tree, Amur maple, gall nut, Chinese scholar tree flower, Amur cork tree, safflower, gromwell, a kind of oak, compound dye of indigo and Amur cork tree, and compound dye of Indigo and Chinese scholar tree flower.
Yellow jade green was obtained from raw indigo dye, and light yellow jade green was obtained from the indigo and Amur cork tree or Chinese scholar tree flower. The raw indigo could produce a light yellow-green color without compound according to dyeing methods. But as its color fastness was low, a compound dye was used Orange color from madder and sappan wood and beige color from wild mulberry tree and barbery shrub were mostly used as a ground color. For Indigo, jade indigo color rather than dark color or yellow-green jade were used much.
3. Lucky face patterns or self-protective patterns were mostly used as the patterns on the Korean wool weaving carpets. Patterns were so expressed freshly, interestingly and pleasantly. In the patterns used on the wool weaving carpets which are mentioned in Section Ⅱ as the remains, there were several types; animal patterns (crane, pheonix, pheasant, sparrow, wild goose, duck, tortoise, lion, dragon, sheep, etc), plant patterns(chrysanbenum, peony, pomegranate, mallow, citron, persimmon, peach, pear, plantain, pondweed, bamboo, fungus, etc.), ware patterns(gourd, flower vase, pagoda, mace, vessel, flute, flower dish, scepter, silkworm, tile roof, railing, window, entrails, etc.), character patterns(Swastika, Bows, Riches, etc.) and geometric patterns for building.
4. Excellent design creativity of the Koreans in the ancient times, not in the modern times, could be found through the patterns of the Korean wool weaving carpets and color combination by natural dyeing.