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Korean
Medicine chest (Yakiang) (late 19th century)
wood, brass, colour on wood
141.0 × 121.0 × 29.0 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Ian, Barbara, Stuart and Maggie Carroll, 2019
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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About this work
During the Joseon dynasty, Korean doctors practised acupuncture and moxibustion (warming and burning with mugwort) and prescribed concoctions of herbs and natural ingredients, including flowers, leaves, teas, fruits, seeds, barks, roots, minerals and animal specimens. To collect and store these properties, yakjang (medicine cabinets) were created with inscriptions on each drawer to designate the contents. Found in doctors’ and pharmacists’ rooms, as well as affluent homes, medicine cabinets were produced in dark-coloured woods, which polished naturally with use, and represented the sombre, austere beauty of Confucian restraint popular during the Joseon dynasty.