288 Chinese Clay Figures 



they obtained among other treasures two suits of armor. l We have no 

 exact information as to what these ancient suits of armor were like,, 

 and can base our conclusions only on such specimens as we find in 

 the country at present. Among these are some of considerable age; 

 that is, ranging within the time of the last two centuries or so. We 

 have two main types of harness from Korea, — padded armor 2 and 

 plate mail. 



A very interesting specimen of the latter type is in the Museum 

 collection (Plates XLI, XLII). It is a rough-looking coat of strong 

 twill, lined with blue cotton, and covered with hemp cloth of loose texture 

 imprinted all over with charms by means of wooden blocks. 3 The 

 designs are effaced to such a degree that the details can no longer be 

 recognized: birds' heads, floral designs, trees, arabesques, are con- 

 spicuous; Sanskrit letters, which occur in other specimens, are absent. 

 The buttons in front are of bone ; the sides are open, and provided with 

 rows of buttons. Both front and back are strengthened by seven parallel 

 rows of rectangular steel plates (averaging 10.2 X 7.5 cm), very flexible, 

 each coated on both faces with a black varnish. The plates are not 

 mutually connected, but merely imbricated, — a feature not yet ob- 

 served in Chinese plate mail. Each plate is clinched to the cloth 

 foundation by means of two rivets with flat heads. They are driven 

 through, and appear on the exterior as big iron nail-heads. A number 

 of plates have additional perforations that are not utilized, but which 

 show that the plates could have been tightly sewed on to the back- 

 ground had not the wearer of this armor preferred to have them loose 

 and movable. The shoulders are covered on the interior by two rows of 



1 Aston, Nihongi, Vol. II, p. 86. 



2 A Korean armor consisting of many thicknesses of coarse cotton cloth is figured 

 by W. Hough (The Corean Collections in the U. S. National Museum, Report U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., 1 891, Plate XXVIII, and Primitive American Armor, /. c, p. 645); the sur- 

 face of portions of the coat is printed with prayer formulas (dharani) in Sanskrit, and 

 such are inscribed also on the helmet. This practice seems to be derived from 

 China: the helmets used by the imperial house during the Manchu dynasty were 

 chased with Sanskrit characters (see Huang ch'ao li kH t'u shi, Ch. 13, or Ta Ts'ing 

 hui tien t'u, Ch. 61). A modern Korean helmet is illustrated by E. Zimmermann 

 (Koreanische Kunst, Hamburg, no date, Plate VI). It is a leather helmet of conical 

 shape, surmounted by a bunch of horse-hair and a metal ball in open-work, and adorned 

 with dragons and a hydra about to attack, wrought in gilt metal ;_ fur- lined ear- 

 warmers covered with metal studs are attached to it, the whole style being that of the 

 Manchu dynasty. The costume on Plate VII, explained as the official robe of a 

 minister, is in fact a pseudo-armor, as shown by the rows of metal bosses and the 

 two applique' dragons playing with balls; it is similar to the one on our Plate XLIII. 

 Generals' and soldiers' helmets are figured and briefly described by F. H. Jenings 

 (Korean Headdresses in the National Museum, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collec- 

 tions, Vol. 45, 1904, pp. 161-163). Good specimens of these are also in the Field 

 Museum. 



3 Much in the style of Tibetan cloth prints which are attached to flag-poles set 

 up on the roofs of houses in order to bring luck to the inmates. 



