Printing Woodblock of Suseon jeondo (Comprehensive Map of the Capital)

This is the printing woodblock used to produce the Suseon jeondo (Comprehensive Map of the Capital), a nineteenth-century map of Hanyang, present-day Seoul. The woodblock is said to have been made between 1824 and 1834 with the involvement of Kim Jeong-ho (dates of birth and death unknown). Surviving printing woodblocks for Joseon-period woodblock-printed old maps are extremely rare. This woodblock consists of three panels arranged side by side; printed and joined together, they form a single complete map. The fine carving on the woodblock is itself a work of considerable artistic merit, and the block survives in very good condition. The Suseon jeondo measures 82.5 cm in height and 67.5 cm in width and is drawn with great precision. As a detailed doseongdo — a map of the walled capital — showing Hanyang in the early 1820s, it depicts the city's main roads and facilities as well as the villages, mountains and temples outside the walls in fine detail. For its accuracy, precision and scale, this map ranks among the finest maps of the walled capital of Seoul. Within the walls the map keeps to a uniform scale, while outside the walls it uses a smaller scale to render the mountains in a more pictorial manner, a method of representation that appears to follow the style of handwritten doseongdo produced in the late eighteenth century. Its skill is highly regarded, both as a work of cartography and as a piece of woodblock craftsmanship.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seongbuk-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물