Seo Geo-jeong Epitaph Tablet Seok

This tablet was excavated from the tomb of Seo Geo-jeong (1420–1488), a great scholar of the early Joseon period. In 1975, when the tomb — originally located in Bangi-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul — was relocated to Wangnim-ri, Bongdam-eup, Hwaseong, as part of urban planning, the epitaph tablets were recovered. An epitaph tablet records the deeds of the deceased, family relationships and the location of the tomb, and is buried near the grave; the custom originated in China. Joseon-period epitaph tablets were sometimes made of stone, but were often made as rectangular plaques of white porcelain. More rarely, they also took the form of a gravestone, a jar, a cylinder, or a gourd. Seo Geo-jeong's epitaph tablets are rectangular white porcelain plaques, of which nineteen were excavated in total. A serial number appears in the upper right corner of each tablet, and since numbers 16, 17 and 19 are missing, the original set is presumed to have consisted of twenty-two tablets. Joseon-period white porcelain epitaph tablets are frequently decorated in underglaze cobalt blue or underglaze iron, but Seo Geo-jeong's are all incised. In the early Joseon period, when Seo Geo-jeong was active, cobalt-blue pigment (a pigment producing a blue colour, made from the mineral cobalt) was more precious than gold, so incised epitaphs were the common choice. The text on such tablets was usually composed by a noted writer of the day; this epitaph was written by Yi Suk-ham, who had taken part together with Seo Geo-jeong in compiling the Dongguk Tonggam (Comprehensive Mirror of the Eastern Country).

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongin, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산