Treasures from Korea: Art through 5,000 Years (review)

BOOK REVIEWS97 American medics, so in response to this demand, Korean medical schools began expansion in needed fields. This in turn led to a scarcity ofdoctors for similar areas in Korea, because Korean doctors chose the relatively high-paying, albeit distasteful , positions in America over those in Korea. All of these books are of extremely high quality, and should be on the required reading list of anyone interested in Asian-Americans, and specifically, Korean immigration to the United States. I do have one criticism, however, about a fault which these works share with most recent literature on Asian-Americans: there is little or no analysis ofAmerican- versus Korean-born Korean-Americans. This is important because it is well known that all immigrants to the United States play catch-up with natives for one or two generations. These studies all concentrate on first-generation immigrants, so they really do not come to grips with the assimilation-cultural pluralism debate. Forthcoming studies based upon the 1980 census may shed light on this issue. It is a central issue, because it revolves around the role of race itself in American society. Herbert R. Barringer University of Hawaii Treasures from Korea: Art through 5,000 Years. Introduction by Roger Goepper, edited by Roderick Whitfield. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1984. 224pp. $40.00 cloth, $20.00 paperback. Treasuresfrom Korea is a catalog prepared for an exhibition at the British Museum of256 Korean art objects dating from the neolithic through the Yi periods. It opens with brief essays on Korean language, literature, religion, architecture, Buddhist sculpture, and the ancient splendor of the city of Kümsöng, or Kyöngju. This is followed by the catalog entries arranged chronologically, interspersed with short essays on certain categories of objects, such as Yi painting, and, most useful of all, the major excavation sites ofthe last fifteen years. These entries are written by three Korean and four Western specialists in various fields ofKorean art. Thus, while the catalog is obviously intended to serve as a guide for the neophyte, the individual entries include detailed material of interest to scholars. Among the exhibited objects, those from the Three Kingdoms period and the United Silla period are the most valuable, for they have forced réévaluation of several earlier assumptions. In particular, a silver wine cup (cat. # 30) from the tomb of King Munyöng (r. 501-523) reveals a delicate pattern and sophisticated technique and shape that, if it had not been found in a datable tomb, might have been judged to be from a century later. It demonstrates that the Korean metal workers were in no way inferior to the Chinese, and opens the possibility that influence may have passed to and not just from China. Also included are a pair of silver bracelets (cat. #31) engraved with the name of the silversmith, Dari. As the authors point out, the character "ri" in the artisan's name is often used by Paekche artists and is the same character used by Tori, the sculptor for the bronze statue of Sakyamuni at Höryüji in Japan. Tori's lineage has always been a significant 98BOOK REVIEWS problem. The early Japanese histories claim his grandfather came from southern China, but art historians are increasingly inclined to suggest a Korean lineage and the use of "ri" is important evidence favoring the theory of his Korean ancestry. The candle snuffers (cat. #111) from Anap-chi, called scissors in other catalogs, along with pieces not on exhibition from the same site, are concrete examples ofthe extensive Korean impact on Japan well into the Nara period, when Japanese scholars generally assume that Chinese influence dominated in Japan. The shape of the candle snuffers, as well as forms and patterns on other objects from Anap-chi, find their replicas in the Shösöin collection. Indeed the Anap-chi excavations , which uncovered some fifteen thousand objects, repeatedly make clear the enormous debt that Japan owes Korea. The purposes of most of the objects are clear; however, the function of a circular disc with eight projections that end in ball-shaped rattles (cat. #13) from the prehistoric metal age is puzzling. This piece has an eyelet...