gat (horse hair hat), unknown maker from Korea

Joseon Korea was a highly stratified society. The group of social elites known as yangban (양반/兩班) were composed of both civil servants and military officers. The yangban embodied the Korean Confucian ideal of the scholarly official. Although in theory anyone who passed the civil service exams could attain the rank of yangban, in reality the considerable financial resources required to afford years of study to pass the exams limited yangban status to
families with considerable wealth. The chungjin (중인/中人), literally the “middle people,” were skilled workers who served the upper elite. Roughly 75% of Joseon Korea subjects consisted of sangmin (상민/常民), or common people, also known as yangmin (양민/良 民). This case highlights material aspects of Joseon society, from the horse-haired hats known as gat (갓) worn by elite men to the patchwork wrapping cloth known as bojagi (보자기) made from remnants of silk by common women.