Calligraphy by Queen Consort Inmok

Calligraphy by Queen Consort Inmok (仁穆王后御筆 七言詩) is a seven-character quatrain written in large characters by Queen Consort Inmok (1584–1632), the second queen consort of King Seonjo. It is written on paper in four lines of seven characters each, and was mounted as a hanging scroll in the modern period. Below the royal calligraphy is a colophon dated 1966 by the calligrapher Bae Gil-gi. The paper ground is generally well preserved, though the spacing between the lines is somewhat lighter than the rest. Within the strokes of the twenty-eight characters of the royal seven-character poem, a votive prayer of twenty-nine characters by a monk named Jewoldang is written in small, dark characters. Chiljangsa Temple was rebuilt by Queen Consort Inmok as a votive temple in 1623, the year King Injo came to the throne through the Restoration, so that she could pray for the repose of her own father and of her son, Grand Prince Yeongchang. The temple once held a manuscript copy of the Sutra of Golden Light said to have been written by Queen Consort Inmok, now in the collection of the Dongguk University Museum, which shares the same calligraphic style as this seven-character poem. Queen Consort Inmok's calligraphy resembles that of King Seonjo, and her daughter Princess Jeongmyeong copied her style in turn. A version of this royal calligraphy carved onto a wooden board survives (Treasure, Heritage relating to Princess Myeongan), as does a copy traced in gold ink on black silk (National Museum of Korea, Deok 2053); both share the same character forms as this piece, though in the copies the twenty-eight characters of the quatrain are arranged in three lines of ten characters each, with the spacing between characters adjusted. Many examples of royal calligraphy by successive Joseon kings were carved onto woodblocks in this way, but it is extremely rare for the original of such a carved royal calligraphy to survive, as it does here. In particular, while examples of queens' handwriting survive in the informal script of letters, whether in their own hand or that of court scribes, no example of large-character Chinese calligraphy by a queen other than this seven-character poem by Queen Consort Inmok has so far come to light, aside from a work attributed to Queen Consort Myeongseong.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Anseong, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물