2-724-750 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Bride's Robe, 1800s. Korean bridal robes were rented to the middle-class women in the village after the upper-class brides had used them. The paper around the neck and sleeves was changed for every wedding ceremony. A traditional bride’s robe features a lotus design to represent the bride’s purity and rebirth in the Buddhist tradition. Thus, it was also auspicious for a ten-panel folding lotus screen to decorate a woman’s room in the late Joseon period. The backside of this robe is embroidered with lotuses and egrets along the bottom. Peonies and birds appear at the top. On the front and on the sleeves a phoenix stands on coloured rocks under peonies. Two lines on the shoulders read, "It is the origin of all fortune to get two family names together."