옥의 상감기법에 관한 연구

Technique of Inlay in Jade

Jade has long been a precious jewel in the Korean culture. It has been compared with the highest charac ter man can possess, and has been symbols of power and sacredness. A precious jewel, jade was used for many types of personal ornaments , and numerous histor ic artifac ts contain ja de. Due to its unique fibro us structure, jade is easy to cut and process. But its mon ochromatic characte ris tic has put limit s on its usage in ornaments. This study resear ches the processing of jades for decorati ve uses by damascenin g a met al layer on the jade surface. There are several steps needed before the jade surface is pol ished . First, the jade surface is grinded finely , and nicks are delicately made using a handpiece diamond bar. Only then is the surface softly polished using a 220PVA wet-type grinding stone. Heat-treated 24K pure gold or pure silver is hammered into th e nick s and liquid adhesive is applied. Once the adhesive has dried, a file is used to delicately grind the sur face so that the jade sur face and met alli c sur face ar e level. Sandpaper is used for final tou che s, and a dr y-type 320PVA grinding stone is used for polishing. Lastly , chrome oxide glo ss is applied to leather, and thi s leather is used to obtain the fin al gloss . There are already some j ade product s that ha ve inlaid met al. But because this method has not been re searched academically, th e method ha s been pa ssed down by only word of mouth between a small number of craftsmen to thi s day. By studying thi s technique acad emi cally and d e veloping a sys tem ize d proce ss , c raftsmen ' wil l be a b le to underst and thi s technique th eoretically. Through this und erstanding, they wi ll be abl e to crea te many new types of jade ornaments, decoration s, and wo rks of art. With the harmonious co lors of jade and metal, it will be possibl e to create new traditional Korean works of art that possess a modern touch . Thi s will be yet another step in the globa lizatio n of tradition al Korean culture.