Ruler
Painted ox horn was used to decorate a range of objects from large furniture to smaller everyday wares, such as boxes, mirror stands, and sewing implements. By the late Joseon, the ox horn decorative technique was fully developed. The horn would be cut into very thin sheets and then one side would be painted. Due to the near transparency of the sheet, the painting could be seen through to the other side. The painted side would then be adhered to the object using a lacquer-resin adhesive.
The twelve segments of the ruler are decorated with a zodiac animal, but the animals are not arranged in the sequence of the zodiac. Although the images are small, the artisan uses short dashes on the lower half of each segment around the animal to indicate the ground and clouds around the dragon to situate the animals.
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