Ten Thousand Men’s Canopy

Ten Thousand Men’s Canopy , Guangxu 11 (1885)

Where object was made: Korea

Material/technique: silk; satin stitch; embroidering

Dimensions:
Object Diameter (Diameter): 197 cm
Object Diameter (Diameter): 77 1/2 in

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 0000.1026

Not on display

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Civic Leader and Art Collector: Sallie Casey Thayer and an Art Museum for KU

Sallie Casey Thayer likely acquired this canopy as an exquisite and colorful example of Korean textile production. Although she may also have been aware of the canopy’s role in gift-giving culture during the late Joseon dynasty, she was less likely aware of the ways the work also testifies to the underlying tensions between social classes.
As its name indicates, Ten Thousand Men’s Canopy (萬人傘) was the product of a collective patronage comprising a large number of people who funded the creation of this colorfully embroidered canopy. Upon a governor’s retirement, a wide-range of local citizens from aristocrats to laborers presented a canopy as a farewell gift to express their gratitude. Based on existing examples, this gift tradition peaked in the later half of 19th-century Korea. Ironically, this period of the Joseon dynasty was far from the golden age of benevolent governors. Disgruntled laborers led rebellions against corrupt local governors throughout the Korean peninsula. For example, an 1896 account recorded in the Veritable Records of Gojong reported that when a local governor forced villagers to present an embroidered canopy with colorful, expensive silk fabric and threads, the villagers’ complaining voices filled the streets.
This particular canopy was dedicated to Kim Seon-pil (1807–1883), who served as the head magistrate of Uiwon county in Pyeong-an province from the seventh lunar month of 1862 to the last month of 1864. Following the breakout of Hong Gyeong-rae’s rebellion (1811–1812) in Pyeong-an Province, in order to prevent future rebellions only military officials like Kim Seon-pil were appointed to this northwestern border province. This Ten Thousand Men’s
Canopy may represent an effort by the villagers, stigmatized as potential rebels because of Hong’s rebellion, to demonstrate their loyalty to the central government.