Folding Screen of Heonjong garye jinhado (King Heonjong’s Wedding Celebration) (2011)

The Folding Screen of Heonjong garye jinhado (King Heonjong's Wedding Celebration) is an eight-panel folding screen, a court record painting depicting the congratulatory ceremony held in 1844, the tenth year of King Heonjong's reign, after King Heonjong (1827–1849, r. 1834–1849), the twenty-fourth king of Joseon, held his royal wedding rite (garye) with his queen. King Heonjong, who had ascended the throne at the age of eight, lost his first queen, Queen Hyohyeon of the Kim clan (1828–1843); the following year, on the eighteenth day of the tenth month, he invested the daughter of Hong Jae-ryong as his second queen, Queen Hyojeong, and on the twenty-first day held the rites of chinyeongnye (the groom's procession to fetch the bride) and dongnoyeon (the ceremonial wedding banquet). The screen comprises eight panels in total. The first panel bears the proclamation text issued after the wedding celebration, composed by Jo Byeong-gu (1801–1845), who held the post of Yemungwan jehak (Second Counsellor of the Office of Special Advisors). The six panels from the second to the seventh depict the congratulatory rite (jinha), set against the backdrop of Injeongjeon Hall at Changdeokgung Palace. In fact, the investiture, the wedding and the congratulatory rite for Queen Hyojeong were all held at Gyeonghuigung Palace, so this painting does not correspond to the actual event; but nineteenth-century folding screens depicting such congratulatory rites conventionally set the scene at Injeongjeon Hall of Changdeokgung Palace regardless of where the ceremony actually took place. Accordingly, in this screen too, Injeongjeon Hall and the surrounding large and small buildings are depicted in an orderly yet lavish manner, together with mountains, water, trees and figures on horseback, while the civil and military officials are shown assembled in strict order. The palace scene, rendered in a parallel-diagonal bird's-eye-view perspective, creates a sense of three-dimensional space, and the congratulatory scene, in which the full array of regalia symbolising the king and the state is mobilised, faithfully recreates the dignity and splendour of Joseon royal court culture. The eighth panel bears a roster (jwamok) of officials of the Seonjeongwan, the Bureau of Royal Messengers. It records the rank, office title, year of birth, year of passing the state examination and clan seat of twenty-five officials in all, beginning with Yun Myeong-geom (b. 1779) and Yi Hui-gyeong (b. 1790), both holding the military rank of Jeolchung janggun and the post of royal messenger. Judging from this roster, the screen can be identified as a gyebyeong, a commemorative screen made for members of an official association, produced by the royal messengers themselves to mark King Heonjong's wedding and the congratulatory rite; following convention, it is presumed that a copy was distributed to every official listed in the roster. This large-scale wedding painting, executed in extremely fine brushwork and rich colour, is of note in the history of painting, and at the same time offers valuable historical material through which the appearance of a royal wedding of 167 years ago can vividly be glimpsed. Paintings with the same subject as this screen are also held, one example each, by the Dong-A University Museum (designated in 1982) and the National Museum of Korea. These three screens show slight differences in their underdrawing, and also differ in the various regalia, in the costume and placement of the figures, and in the number of figures depicted; but their overall style of expression is almost identical, suggesting that they were produced at much the same time. The Folding Screen of Heonjong garye jinhado held by the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum is valuable material relating to the royal wedding, a major event of the royal house in the late Joseon period. Compared with other commemorative court-event screens produced in the same period, it falls slightly short in artistic accomplishment; but compared with the copy already designated at the Dong-A University Museum, it shows the same brushwork and painting style, and is, if anything, in better condition.

AI Translation

Visiting

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Yongin, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물