“Death is a given of the human condition that touches everyone in every age,” reads the introduction to “Korean Funerary Figures,” currently on display at the gallery in the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies. Running through March 7, the exhibit features a collection of 19th and 20th century figures called kkoktu, showcasing and contextualizing them in four different categories. The individual pieces stand on wooden blocks affixed to the wall around the room, reserving its center for a scale model of a traditional 19th century funeral bier constructed last year.
The first group of figures is of the “Entertainer,” who is designed to “console the spirit…and distract the mourners.” The Entertainer takes the form of a musician, a clown, or a dancer. One clown stands on his hands (a position common to figures in Buddhist altar paintings and to 19th century Korean street performers), his pointed hat and beard giving his downcast eyes a fierce energy. The figure’s feet dangle over his head, held—much like the community surrounding the deceased—at a point of balance.
Next to the collection of entertainers stands a group of figures representing the “Caregiver,” whose role in the funerary process is to “serve the deceased as if he or she were still alive.” This figure often takes the form of a woman or girl, dressed in bright colors. Several of the statues hold flowers with eruptive petals that tower over their heads. The first in the series of caregivers is a larger 15-and-a-half-inch figure (most are around one foot) that stands robed in garments of mottled blue, orange and yellow paint. With hands clasped, the detail of the folds in her clothing mirror the warmth of the hue in her face.
Recognizable by his “menacing, brutish face,” the “Guard” holds a duty that is similar in purpose to that of the caregiver but very different in its execution. The figure is adorned with weaponry and often rides a horse or some variation of a mythical creature. The Guards displayed often take the form of government officials, especially in the case of those made after 1945, the year in which Korea received its independence from Japan.
The final group of figures is of the “Guide,” who is the “personification of the superhuman power that guides the soul of the deceased to the other world.” These figures are also often government officials or noblemen. One rides a phoenix; another rides two bright red birds of paradise. The latter is linked to the birds by a space where their bodies, which face opposite directions, connect with his legs, rendering the full forms indistinguishable.
Scale enlargements of all four types of figures, as well as a series of phoenixes and other creatures, surround a model funerary bier at the center of the room. The bier is adorned with a man playing a flute and riding a four-headed dragon. Unlike the smaller antiques, the scale models display the full color of the figures as they would have been presented at the time of use. The bier and figures, which were used to transport the coffin, were traditionally incinerated after their use, until it was decided that, because extensive and ornate work went into their creation, that they would be kept by their respective communities for future ceremonies. This particular bier, which holds over 30 figures and is covered in bright green cloth, fully conveys the honor to which the recently deceased were entitled.
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