Founded in 1870, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is one of the world’s largest museums, with a collection of more than 1.5 million objects exhibiting the diversity of humanity’s cultural heritage from ancient Egyptian antiquities to contemporary artwork. One notable feature of its vast collection is the presence of extremely rare Korean artifacts, some of which are only found in a handful of places worldwide.

The Met’s Korean collection includes a piece titled “Trefoil-shaped covered box with decoration of chrysanthemums,” which is adorned with black lacquer and a gleaming floral design. The mother-of-pearl strips, measuring just a few millimeters in length, have an iridescent shimmer, while the yellow- and red-dyed tortoise shell inlay forms a separate floral pattern that leaves viewers entranced. The box’s corners and sharp edges are rounded off and finished with a decorative twisted wire made of brass. Despite its extravagant design, the box softens its formal intensity without forfeiting its orderly function. Gazing upon the box, it’s impossible not to admire the dedication of the craftsperson. Even more astonishing is the fact that this box was crafted in the 12th century.

Najeonchilgi, the craft of lacquering a wooden surface inlaid with wafer-thin pieces of mother-of-pearl, is the crown jewel of traditional Korean lacquerware, which has been practiced for over two millennia now. The najeonchilgi of the Goryeo Dynasty is particularly praised for the ultra-precision exhibited by cutting out mother-of-pearl pieces only millimeters long, as well as for the inlay technique using silver and brass wire. Since rounded corners are also characteristic of Goryeo-era najeonchilgi, this chrysanthemum-decorated box almost perfectly embodies the characteristics of the craft.

While the ottchil (the sap of the lacquer tree) used as a varnish famously gained a brighter sheen over the years and provided exceptional resistance to water, insects and decay, lacquer with mother-of-pearl inlay was vulnerable to moisture and eventually prone to cracking and peeling. As a result, very few articles of this sort remain intact. Indeed, only three trefoil-shaped boxes of this kind are extant today: one each in Korea and Japan, along with the article at The Met. Even when all kinds of Goryeo-era najeonchilgi are included in the tally, there are barely 20 to be found anywhere in the world. That makes this trefoil-shaped box an invaluable part of The Met’s collection.

While the trefoil-shaped box isn’t currently displayed at The Met, visitors can find other objects from the collection that demonstrate the fine artistry of traditional Korean handicrafts. One item currently on view is “Filigree scent container” from the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910). This accessory, designed to hold dried flowers and herbs, would have once hung from a handheld fan or articles of Hanbok (traditional Korean clothing). This captivating piece is composed of a phoenix motif, openwork spirals and interlocking rings. Also on display is “Tobacco box,” an iron box engraved with ultrafine silver wire in a gorgeous demonstration of the craft of silver inlay. The exterior is covered with a profusion of birds, flowers such as peonies and apricot blossoms and auspicious symbols known as the “seven treasures.” Each of the Korean craft objects encountered here is so exquisitely designed and elaborately detailed that they evoke universes in miniature.

The Met’s Korean artifact collection is housed in Gallery 233, also known as the Arts of Korea gallery. Opened in 1998, the gallery presents the essence of Korean art spanning 5,000 years from the Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE-668 CE) to the present day. It also works with Korean organizations to produce educational materials detailing the historical and religious context of Korean art.

The special exhibition “Flip Sides: Seeing Korean Art Anew,” which runs through May 31, 2027, brings together around 50 Korean artistic objects from The Met’s collection including “Filigree scent container” and “Tobacco box,” described above. More than half the featured items are being displayed for the first time. This exhibition spotlights the construction and function of pieces made in such diverse media as metal, wood, ceramic, textiles and lacquer. The favorites here include a Buddhist sculpture that once held offerings, a porcelain jar with stunning openwork and a hidden compartment, a delicately carved bronze mirror and a lacquered letter box with gorgeous calligraphy. At the midpoint of the exhibition, some of the pieces will be rotated out for others, with the first rotation ending on Oct. 18 and the second rotation running from Oct. 31 to May 31, 2027.

A previous exhibition at Gallery 233 called “Colorful Korea: The Lea R. Sneider Collection” (Dec. 2, 2024, to Dec. 16, 2026), displayed a selection of the articles that Korean art collector Sneider (1925–2020) assembled over her lifetime. “Through approximately 100 pieces from the fifth century to the present, including paintings, ceramics, furniture, textiles and funerary and ritual objects, the exhibition highlights the pervasiveness of auspicious symbolism and the unpretentious dynamism in Korean art,” The Met explained.

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Arts of Korea gallery, “Lineages: Korean Art at The Met” (Nov. 7, 2023, to Oct. 20, 2024) presented pieces ranging from 12th-century Goryeo celadons to 21st-century cyborg sculptures by contemporary sculptor Lee Bul. The long legacy of Korean art was examined anew through the four themes of lines, people, places and things.

From the Three Kingdoms period to contemporary painting, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has trained a wide-angle lens on the evolution of Korean art. Few museums offer a more thoughtful take on Korean aesthetics. Gallery 233, the Arts of Korea gallery, is sure to reward repeat visits by museumgoers fascinated to learn what exhibitions may be inspired by the stories contained within each artifact.