Korean Furniture: Elegance and Tradition (review)

104BOOK REVIEWS instruments over the last five hundred years." These drawings are a useful addition . My only other criticism concerns the tape. No performer is mentioned by name, even for solo pieces. Pratt was a founder and director of the Durham Oriental Music Festival, and many tracks were presumably recorded at the festivals in 1976, 1979, and 1982, rather than specially for this volume. The author must know some of the people involved; do they not deserve to be credited? As a general introduction the book is welcome. It is impressively presented , and as iconographie source material it remains invaluable. The niggly faults appear to result from the requirements of publishers (and probably Korean scholars), the reliance on secondhand materials, and the numerous people other than Pratt responsible for figures, maps, and photographs. In this review I have focused on the faults rather than good points in the hope that they, together with the inclusion of appropriate information on the tape, will be dealt with if a second edition is planned. Keith Howard University of Durham REFERENCES Hahn Man-yong [Han Man-yong] (1983). "Folk Songs." In Traditional Performing Arts of Korea. Seoul: The Korean National Committee for UNESCO. Pp. 15-26. Halla Pai Huhm (1980). Kut: Korean Shamanist Rituals. Seoul and Elizabeth, New Jersey: Hollym. Lee Hye-ku [Yi Hye-gu] (1981a). "Yöngsan hoesang: A Comparison of the Modern Piece and the Version Notated in the Taeak Hubo (1759)," and "Chung-Yöngsan as a Variant of Sang-Yöngsan." In Essays on Korean Traditional Music. Trans. Robert C. Provine. Seoul: Royal Asiatic Society, Korean Branch/Seoul Computer Press. Pp. 103-120, 121-155. --------. (1981b). "Yöngsan Hoesang." Accompanying notes to Yöngsan hoesang, four records, SEL-100122, performed by Chöngnong Akhoe. Seoul: SEM Gramaphone . Pratt, K. L. (1976). "Music as a Factor in Sung-Koryö Diplomatic Relations, 1069-1126." In T'oung Pao LXII, no. 4-5:199-218. Leiden: E. J. Brill. --------. (1981). "Sung Hui Tsang's musical diplomacy and the Korean response." Bulletin ofthe School of Oriental and African Studies XLIV, no. 3:509-521. London. Rutt, Richard (1964). Korean Works and Days. Notes from the Diary ofa Country Priest. Seoul: Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch. Yi Chöng-nan (1984). Nongyo sangsasori-üi ümakchök t'ükching. M.A. thesis. Seoul: Hanyang University. Korean Furniture: Elegance and Tradition, by Edward Reynolds Wright and Man Sill Pai. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1984. 192 pp. Illustrations. Index. $60.00. As the world has become increasingly aware and appreciative of Korean art, we are now beginning to see studies that range from the expected general surveys to more detailed works on a variety of specialized topics. Only a very BOOK REVIEWS105 few publications in the English language give some indication of these developments , however, and most of these are general surveys. In-depth studies of specific art forms are very rare. In these circumstances, I hail the publication of Edward Reynolds Wright and Man Sill Pai's Korean Furniture. This book is a good resource not just for those interested in Korean furniture, but also for those who seek a deeper appreciation of Korean woodcraft as well. Korean Furniture seems to have been thoughtfully conceived. Lavishly illustrated, it reveals at a glance the essence of Korean furniture. The variety, function, techniques of manufacture, traditional setting, and placement of pieces in a Korean room are all presented in detail, illuminating not only Korean furniture, but the Korean way of life as well. The photographs, handsomely composed and exquisitely printed, convey a good sense of the original three-dimensional objects they portray. The layout is attractive and easy to follow. This book offers an appreciation of Korean furniture, rather than an indepth scholarly treatment of the subject. Given that there is as yet no detailed English language study of Korean furniture, this book becomes, by default, the standard reference on the subject, but it is not without shortcomings. Even the narrow Korean peninsula bears the mark of a varied topography . The different provinces, bound by mountains and rivers, have developed their own furniture styles with distinctive forms, wood types, and decorative fittings. Even so, it is often very difficult...