King Sejaipakdo Painting Album

The King Sejaipakdo Painting Album commemorates the entrance ceremony (iphangnye) held for Crown Prince Hyomyeong (1809–1830, posthumously honoured as King Ikjong) at Seonggyungwan, the state Confucian academy, on the eleventh day of the third month of 1817, the 17th year of King Sunjo. The process of the entrance ceremony is depicted in five scenes, with a final scene added showing the congratulatory rite (jinharye) held the following day, the twelfth of the third month. The cover bears the title "Painting of the Crown Prince Leaving the Palace" (Wangseja Chulgungdo), but since this refers only to the initial stage of the ceremony — the prince's departure from the palace for Seonggyungwan — the album has been designated under the more comprehensive title King Sejaipakdo Painting Album, covering its entire contents. Preceding the paintings are the ceremonial protocols (uiju) for the entrance rite — the protocol for leaving the palace (chulgung-ui), the libation rite (jakheollye), the entrance rite (iphak-ui), and the rite of receiving congratulations (suha-ui). Following the paintings are, in order, commemorative poems (chansi) by thirteen officials of the Sejasigangwon (the Crown Prince Tutorial Office) — Left Guest-Instructor (jwabin'gaek) Yi Man-su (1752–1820), Doctor and Right Guest-Instructor Nam Gong-cheol (1760–1840), Deputy Left Guest-Instructor Kim Hui-sun (1757–1821), Deputy Right Guest-Instructor Kim I-gyo (1764–1832), Bodeok Seo Jeong-bo (1762–?), Concurrent Bodeok Yi Heon-gi (1774–1842), Pilseon Yi Jong-mok (1761–?), Concurrent Pilseon Hong Gyeong-mo (1774–1841), Munhak Kim Byeong-gu (1782–?), Concurrent Munhak Yun Eung-dae (1769–?), Saseo Kim Jae-won (1768–?), Concurrent Saseo Yi Gyu-hyeon (1777–?), and Seolseo Nam I-mu (1780–?) — followed by a colophon (balmun) by Nam Gong-cheol. The poems serve in place of a formal roster (jwamok) of the tutorial office's officials, and were composed in response to (charun) a five-character regulated verse (oeon yulsi) by Nam Gong-cheol, who served as Doctor, using the rhyme words chun (春), sin (新), in (人) and sin (宸). The paintings comprise six scenes in total: The Crown Prince Leaving the Palace (Wangseja Chulgungdo), The Libation Rite (Jakheondo), Going and Returning (Wangbokdo), Presenting the Silk Offering (Supyedo), The Entrance Rite (Iphakdo), and The Crown Prince Receiving Congratulations (Wangseja Suhado). The contents show that the album was a commemorative album (gyecheop) produced by the officials of the Sejasigangwon — who were responsible for Crown Prince Hyomyeong's education and had prepared and conducted his entrance ceremony — to mark its completion. The album's present mounting, its edges bordered in yellow silk bearing a scrolling floral vine pattern, is a later remounting, but the paintings themselves are in good condition, and their style suggests they were produced at the time of the event in 1817. Given how few documentary paintings of crown-prince ceremonies survive, the King Sejaipakdo Painting Album is valuable as the sole visual record of the entrance-ceremony process, well illustrating the formal and compositional characteristics of this genre of court documentary painting.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seongbuk-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산