The pattern of table-setting is related to the socio-cultural background, housing style, and family system of an era. Documents and literature that directly show table-setting methods in old days, especially of commoners, are scarce.

[Koguryo Era ]

A mural painting in Muyongchong, an old Koguryo grave discovered in Tongu, depicts a person sitting in a chair by a standing dinner table, with food dishes ready on it. Another painting shows persons carrying foods on a legged portable table and on a round plate-like carrier without legs. In the "Meeting Painting" of the mural of Gak-jo-chong, another Tongu grave, people are served separately sitting at small tables. These paintings help us imagine what the table-settings were like in the Koguryo Era.

[Koryo Dynastry ]

Almost no literature describing the daily table-setting of this era is available. However, Ko-ryo-do-kyong, a travel sketch to Korea written by Seo Keung of China's Song Dynasty, indicates that two guests were served together in one table.

[Chosun Dynasty ]

The Chosun table-setting was established based on the Confucianism philosophy which advocates the extended family system and superiority of seniors and males. People formulated the size and name of food containers to be used when served for particular occasions. As the devotion to ancestors and thus memorial service to them were considered important virtues, literature is available which describes the procedure and dish arrangement in a memorial service. We can notice from genre paintings of the Chosun Dynasty that commoners served their guests with individual dinning tables. The records on the royal court banquets in the Chosun Dynasty indicate that kings and the royal family were served with a separate table for each individual food dish, high level officials with a table for each person, lower levels with one table for two people, and the lowest shared one table for several people.