Staff and Chair of Yi Gyeong-seok and Paintings of the Conferment Banquet

In the Joseon period there was a custom whereby the state, as a mark of respect, granted a staff (jang), a folding chair (gwe) and a palanquin to officials over the age of seventy; the objects described here were bestowed under this custom. In the eleventh month of 1668, the ninth year of King Hyeonjong, the king granted, in token of respect, one chair and four staffs to the elder statesman Yi Gyeong-seok, together with one painting depicting the scene of their conferment—six objects in total. Chair: 93 cm high and 77.4 cm wide, made to be unfolded only for sitting and folded away at other times. The seat is woven with sturdy cord in an X-pattern so that it folds easily. The backrest, against which the sitter leans, is made of gwaemok, a hardwood, with a hole bored through the centre; unusually, its surface is wrapped in birch bark. Staffs: four items in total—a staff 189.5 cm long carved with a bird's head, a staff 149.5 cm long containing a concealed sword, and two spade-shaped staffs with a combined length of 141 cm. The bird-head staff has, carved and fitted at its tip, the head of what is thought to be a duck, with rings bearing chrysanthemum-flower ornaments at two points; the shaft is straight, and a small spade is attached at the opposite end, a notable feature. The type of wood is unknown, but it is very light and soft. The sword-staff looks like an ordinary staff on the outside, but conceals a blade within; apart from the wooden handle, it takes the form of a sword, the blade being 60 cm long and the total length, including the handle, 80.4 cm, with a cast-iron spade fitted at the tip. Of the remaining two staffs, both spade-shaped, one appears to have been for summer use and the other for winter outings; the spade shape and pointed tip at the end of the long shaft are made of cast iron. Album of paintings: whenever a chair and staff were conferred, a banquet was invariably held, attended by officials including the civil and military ranks of the State Council, at which the royal edict drafted by the Yemungwan, the office in charge of royal documents, was read aloud. This painting depicts precisely such a scene, divided into three parts. Jibyeonggwejangdo shows the scene of receiving the chair and staff bestowed by the king; Seondokgyoseodo shows the reading aloud of the royal edict; and Naeoeseonondo shows court musicians and dancers sent from the palace performing music and dance. For an official who had risen to the rank of state councillor to live to the age of seventy was a rare thing, so the objects bestowed by the king on this occasion are extremely precious relics. The chair and staff were made in the state-run workshops of the mid-Joseon period and are a representative example of Joseon craftsmanship, revealing the production regulations and style of the time, while the album of paintings of the conferment banquet is a genre painting of great artistic value from the period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongin, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물