Palma Stele, Suncheon

The Palma Stele, Suncheon was erected in Seungpyeongbu (present-day Suncheon) sometime after 1281, the seventh year of King Chungnyeol, to honour the integrity of Choe Seok, the magistrate (busa) of Seungpyeongbu. Choe Seok's conduct, and the fact that the people of Seungpyeongbu erected the stele, are recorded in the biographies section of the Goryeosa (History of Goryeo). According to this record, it was the custom in Seungpyeongbu for a departing magistrate to be given eight horses as a gift; but when Choe Seok was appointed to the post of biseorang (a court secretarial post) and set off for Gaeseong, he sent back not only the horses he had been given but even the foals born to his own horse while it was kept in Seungpyeongbu. After this, the practice of giving horses to departing magistrates fell into disuse in Seungpyeongbu, and the people are said to have raised the Palma Stele ("Eight Horses Stele") to honour Choe Seok's incorruptible virtue. The stele, first erected at the end of the Goryeo period, fell over in the early 1300s but was re-erected, only to be completely destroyed in the war of the jeongyu year (1597, the thirtieth year of King Seonjo). It was rebuilt in 1617 by Yi Su-gwang, who had taken up the post of busa in 1616, and has survived intact ever since, through the Japanese colonial period and up to the present day. The three characters "八馬碑" (Palmabi) on the stele rebuilt by Yi Su-gwang were written by Won Jin-hae, who held the jinsa degree (a licentiate qualification in the Joseon civil examinations), while the inscription on the back was composed by Yi Su-gwang and written out by Kim Hyeon-seong, who held the senior court title of dongjisa. From its first erection through its rebuilding and up to the present day, the Palma Stele of Suncheon has held the standing of a key relic representing the Suncheon region: it has the historical distinction of having first been raised in the thirteenth century, and the stone rebuilt in 1617 by the Suncheon magistrate Yi Su-gwang survives to this day, giving it a history of more than four hundred years. It also has ample historical, artistic and academic value to merit designation as a State-designated heritage (treasure), in that Choe Seok, the subject of the stele, has been upheld as a model of the incorruptible local official down to the present. The stele is of the "bigal" type, with a rounded top. It stands about 160 cm high, 76.0 cm wide and 16.5 cm thick. On the front face a recessed panel was cut to hold the inscription, its upper corners bevelled; the panel measures about 140 cm high and 63.0 cm wide, and within it the three characters "八馬碑" are carved in high relief, each character about 48.0 cm in diameter — remarkably large. The pedestal measures 140 cm by 76 cm and stands 33.5 cm high, with a socket hole 70.0 cm by 18.0 cm to hold the stele body. On top of the pedestal is a two-tiered, arc-shaped moulding to support the stele body, each tier about 2.5 cm high. Unlike the typical Joseon-period stele, which is composed of a capstone, a stele body and a pedestal, this stele has no capstone above its body, and its pedestal is carved with lotus-flower motifs of the kind seen on Buddhist relics — a striking feature.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Suncheon, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Treasure · 보물