봄 Vol.9 No.1 SPRING 2016 봄 SPRING 2016 Vol.9 No.1 Vol.9 2016 SPRING 봄 ISSN 2005-0151 OnOn the the Cover Cover Najeon (mother-of-pearl inlay) refers to a decorative technique of embellishing wooden or lacquered surfaces with thin sheets of mother-of-pearl cut into diverse shapes. While similar traditions are prac- ticed across Northeast Asia, Korea devel- oped a technique reflecting its own unique aesthetics and influenced Japanese prac- tices during the early Edo period. Mainly ornamenting everyday objects and furni- ture such as mirrors and chests, mother- of-pearl inlay expresses a diverse range of motifs, including scrollwork, chrysanthe- mums, dragons, and landscapes. Contents 02 03 04 Korean Heritage in Focus Exploration of Korean Heritage 36 Special Exhibition: Royal Portraits and Portrait Halls of the Joseon Court Interpretation of Modern-Day Conditions Using Dongui bogam Paintings of the Joseon Kings and Their Portrait Halls Sangnim, an Artificial Forest with a Thousand-Year History 08 32 04 14 24 36 42 14 Korean Heritage for the World Cultural Heritage Administration Headlines 48 Voices from the Field on Inscription on the Memory of the World Register CHA News Confucian Printing Woodblocks in Korea CHA Events ‌The Archives of the KBS Special Live Broadcast “Finding Dispersed Families” Tug of War in Eastern Asia: Its Heritage Value and Practice in Korea, China, and Japan Mother-of-Pearl Inlay in Korea, China, and Japan Korean Heritage in Focus 04 05 Special Exhibition: Royal Portraits and Portrait Halls of the Joseon Court Text & photos by Lee Jong-sook, Curator, Exhibition & Publicity Division, National Palace Museum of Korea The National Palace Museum of Korea, an affiliated agency of the Cultural Heritage Administration, hosted the special exhibition Royal Portraits and Portrait Halls of the Joseon Court from December 8, 2015 to February 14, 2016 at its building inside Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the portraits of the Joseon kings were transferred to the southern city of Busan. Tragically, however, a fire at the portrait storage in Busan destroyed most of these representations of the Joseon kings and left only a few damaged examples. Thanks to the persistent efforts at the recuperation of the damage to these regal portraits by the National Palace Museum of Korea, this special exhibition can offer the public a chance to appreciate the major royal portraits that remain. At the exhibition, a total of nine royal portraits, including two of King Taejo, the founder of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910), were on display and the process of producing drawings of kings was explained. The exhibit also included documentary and pictorial materials including the uigwe royal protocols of Joseon that address portrait halls, called jinjeon, where royal portraits were enshrined and ceremonies for the royal paintings were performed, as well as ritual artifacts that were used at portrait halls, such as incense burners. Portrait of King Taejo on display at the exhibition Korean Heritage in Focus 06 07 Theme 2 described the methods and process for the production of royal portraits during the Joseon period. Also on display were introductions of the painters responsible for producing royal portraits and of other portraits by late-Joseon royal portrait painters, including Yi Myeong-gi and Yi Han- cheol, so that the audience could directly appreciate their mastery. Theme 3 was designed to show how the authority of royal portraits was considered on a level with that of the actual king of the day and displayed major royal portraits such as Royal Portrait of King Taejo (in blue dress), the only royal portrait that was (until a few years ago) housed continuously at a portrait hall (Gyeonggijeon Hall in Jeonju); Portrait of Prince Yeoning, depicting a young Yeongjo before he was enthroned as the 21st ruler of Joseon; Royal Portrait of King Yeongjo, representing a 51-year-old Yeongjo; Royal Portrait of King Cheoljong, showing how the 25th Joseon monarch looked at 31 years of age; and Royal Portrait of King Gojong, a portrait of The exhibition Royal Portraits and Portrait Halls of the Joseon Court the 26th ruler that is purported to have been executed by the painter Chae Yong-sin. Also displayed were royal portraits opened to the public for the first time ever, includingRoyal Portrait of King Taejo (in red dress; a copy The exhibition was intended to shed light on the lofty status and special from 1900); Royal Portrait of King Wonjong (a copy from 1936), Royal meaning invested in the royal portraits from the Joseon court. These portraits Portrait of King Munjo, and Royal Portrait of King Sunjong (drawn by were crafted using rigorous procedures and formalities, and then enshrined the painter Kim Eun-ho in 1928 after the king’s death), meeting with an in a special space in the jinjeon where they were held in high esteem and enthusiastic reception by researchers of traditional clothing and other related honored with ceremonies. These were not simple paintings, but were directly experts. equated with the king depicted. Historical records evidence how the king and courtiers mourned over the ashes of royal portraits when they were Theme 4 presented the jinjeon, a dedicated space for the enshrinement consumed by a fire at a portrait hall, and royal portraits were regularly of royal portraits. Portrait halls come in two types: one dedicated to a checked for maintenance and shown respect through a regal protocol of four single king and the other for multiple kings. Presented in this exhibition bows, just as with the king on the throne. as an example of the first type was a portrait hall for King Taejo, while Yeonghuijeon Hall and Seonwonjeon Hall represented the second type. The To effectively fulfill its purpose as described above, the exhibition and portrait hall built on Ganghwado Island for emergency purposes was also the roughly 100 artifacts on display were organized according to six themes: presented. An exploration of portrait halls was given through the uigwe royal 1. The history of royal portraits and portraits halls of Korea; 2. Production protocols and painting materials. of royal portraits during the Joseon Dynasty; 3. Royal portraits as kings; 4. Jinjeon as the home of royal portraits; 5. Paintings that accompanied royal Theme 5 showed large-scale folding screens with painterly decorations portraits; and 6. Ceremonies at portrait halls. that are assumed to have been installed in portrait halls along with royal portraits. Theme 6 displayed a diverse range of ritual objects and vessels For Theme 1, the history of Korean royal portraits and portrait halls was that were used in ceremonies at portrait halls such as Mokcheongjeon Hall explored mainly for the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties, the temporal period (located in Kaesong, dedicated to portraits of Taejo) and Seonwonjeon Hall from which relatively large amounts of relevant records remain. (located within the Changdeokgung Palace complex). Korean Heritage in Focus 08 09 Production of Royal Portraits during Joseon During the Joseon Dynasty, portraits of all 27 of its rulers were produced in large numbers. In the case of the dynasty’s founder, King Taejo (r. 1392–1398), the number of portraits housed at Seonwonjeon Hall in Changdeokgung Palace reached as high as 26 pieces in the mid-Joseon era. King Yeongjo (r. 1724–1776), the longest-ruling monarch of Joseon, had multiple portraits produced at 10-year intervals and depicting him in diverse costumes. As for the last monarch of the dynasty, King Sunjong (r. 1907– 1910), as many as eight portraits were executed while he was still Crown Prince. The production of a royal portrait was a national undertaking subject to strict and intricate procedures. An ad hoc office in charge of the production process was set up and portrait painters were selected. Royal portrait painters were categorized into three types respectively responsible for drawing the face, for depicting the body, and for helping with mixing colors: lead painters, associate painters, and assistant painters. The number of royal portrait painters mobilized at a time was three to four at minimum and 13–14 at most. An example of the latter case can be found in the year 1900, when a fire at Seonwonjeon Hall required the reproduction of portraits of seven kings. To produce a royal portrait, an underdrawing was first made on oiled paper and silk was then pressed on top of the sketch to allow the drawing Portrait of King Taejo (in red dress) by Jeong Du-hui 2013; color on silk; 284 x 163.5 cm; National Palace Museum of Korea to be copied in ink onto the silk. With the underdrawing done, coloring began: the reverse was painted first, and then additional paint was applied to the front. This technique of “back side coloring” was commonly used for portraiture during the Joseon era for the purpose of enhancing the durability Paintings of the Joseon Kings and allowing naturalistic color development. Next, the portrait was mounted and a title was added to indicate to whom it belongs. Decorations, including and Their Portrait Halls tassels, were eventually added. Each step of royal portrait production was executed at a selected Text & photos by Cho Sun-mie, Professor Emeritus, Sungkyunkwan University auspicious time and date and was followed by rigorous inspection from the king and courtiers. Portraits that were produced with the utmost care and effort were enshrined at a jinjeon, or “portrait hall,” and the parade of the royal portrait to the portrait hall was honored with formalities equaling those Korean Heritage in Focus 10 11 offered to a living king. As such, a royal portrait was perceived as not just a began to suffer.