• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2009

Ip-yeong or gat-keun decorate heuk-rip, supplementing its simplicity. When the wind blew, a dynamic beauty was created, especially if the gat-keun was made with long straps of jade or silk. Basically, ip-yeong was a practical chin strap to hold the gat tight on the head. Commoners made ip-yeong by folding cotton cloth or fine gauze. However, as available materials became diversified, people used cloth, jade, agate, amber, coral, gold medallion, rock crystal and bamboo as well, juk-yeong, which was made with bamboo, became popular especially when Heungsun Daewon-gun, the father of King Kojong, decreed that people wear simple clothes. Most records concerning ip-yeong in Chosun-wangjo-shillok, the authentic record of the Joseon Dynasty, are related to forbidding a sumptuous life. The book also suggests that ip-yeong was bestowed by the king or was offered to foreign diplomats as gifts. Ip-yeong doesn't seem to be a unique system for Korea. Based on portraits or paintings where ip-yeong can be found, it seems to have been widely used during the Yuan dynasty and the Goryeo dynasty. The system disappeared in China as the Ming Dynasty was established, but it remained in use in the Korean Goryeo dynasty and through the Joseon. Literature suggests that the same materials were used for ip-yeong from the beginning of Joseon to the end of the dynasty. Guyeongja refers to a ring that connects an ipja to a chin strap. Guyeongja made with silver, bronze and jade still remain. In gungjungbalgi, the royal court inventory book, records of imogarye can be found (1882), where ten pairs of pure gold strap rings and ten pairs of gold-plated ones were used for a royal wedding.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.66-83
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• 2018

This article focuses how the materials of hatstrings of the 19th to 20th century gat, the Korean top hat for men among the collections of National Folk Museum of Korea, was transformed after port opening treaties with overseas since 1876. As a result of analyzing the materials of the hatstrings, amber, tortoiseshell, wood and bamboo as the traditional materials were used, and ivory, glass (soda glass, lead glass, alkali mixed glass) and plastics (cellulose nitrate, phenol-formaldehyde, polystyrene, acryl) were newly used for the hatstrings. Bamboo, wood and amber were the most frequently used materials. Bamboo was mainly used for the pipe of hatstring and were combined with beads and central decorations of other materials. This shows the trend of bamboo hatstring according to the simplification of the clothing and the culture by Regent Heungseon Daewongun. Ambers were used in the central decorations and beads and the origin of ambers was baltic amber just like the amber relics found in Korea. Compositions of glass were soda glass and alkali mixed glass which were excavated or handed down in Korea from ancient times to Joseon dynasty. But in the case of lead glass, Na2O was detected and it is considered to be a new type lead glass for crafts which came from overseas after port opening since 1876 because it showed the characteristic that it deviates from the lead glass component found in Korea. Plastics such as cellulose nitrate and phenol-formaldehyde were used as new synthetic materials to replace traditional materials such as tortoiseshell, amber, and coral as in the West. Cracks, crazing, crumbly and yellowing of cellulose nitrate of hatstrings were observed by deterioration. The survey of the materials of the 19th to 20th century hatstrings among the collections of National Folk Museum of Korea showed that the introduction of new materials such as glass and plastics were used to replace natural materials such as tortoiseshell and amber along with the use of traditional materials after port opening since 1876.