From October 25, 2013, to January 12, 2014, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco hosted the exhibition In Grand Style: Celebrations in Korean Art during the Joseon Dynasty.
The exhibition showcased royal artifacts used in celebratory rites held for joyous occasions such as royal births and weddings. Among the highlights was a substitute display of the Taehangari—a jar traditionally used to preserve the umbilical cord of King Taejo, the founder of the Joseon Dynasty.
Unlike the ornate white porcelain jars used by later Joseon monarchs, King Taejo’s Taehangari was made of a hard-fired stoneware due to his origins as a northern regional warlord before the founding of the dynasty. Owing to its fragile material, overseas transportation was not permitted.
To present the artifact nonetheless, a floating digital projection of a precise 3D replica was created and exhibited. TRIC, in collaboration with the National Palace Museum of Korea, conducted a photogrammetry-based 3D scan of the original object and produced a digitally accurate model, which was featured throughout the special exhibition at the Asian Art Museum.
