White Porcelain Underglaze Cobalt Blue Yeongbin Yi Clan Epitaph Tablet Myeonggi and Seokam

This White Porcelain Underglaze Cobalt Blue Yeongbin Yi Clan Epitaph Tablet, Myeonggi and Seokam are relics excavated during the 1970 archaeological survey carried out when Sugyeongwon, the tomb of Lady Yeongbin (1696–1764), then located on the grounds of Yonsei University, was relocated to Seooreung in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Lady Yeongbin was a royal concubine of King Yeongjo (1694–1776), the mother of Crown Prince Sado (1735–1762) and the grandmother of King Jeongjo (1752–1800). She died at Yangdeokdang Hall in Gyeonghuigung Palace on 26 July 1764, two years after the death of her son, and the following year was granted the posthumous title ‘Uiyeol’. After Crown Prince Sado was posthumously honoured as King Jangjo, her tomb, until then called Uiyeolmyo, was elevated to the status of a won (a royal tomb of a king's parent), renamed Sugyeongwon, and she was given the further posthumous title ‘Soyu’. Her shrine, in present-day Singyo-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, was first called Uiyeolmyo, then became Seonhuigung in 1788 (the twelfth year of King Jeongjo); its spirit tablet was briefly moved to Yuksanggung Shrine in 1870 (the seventh year of Emperor Gojong), returned to Seonhuigung in 1896, and moved again to Yuksanggung in 1908 (the second year of Emperor Sunjong). The shrine now stands within the Chilgung Shrines in Gungjeong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. The myoji (epitaph tablets recording the deceased's birth, family background, character and achievements, buried with the body, made of ceramic or stone) were made of underglaze cobalt blue porcelain. Two sets were excavated, each placed in sand inside a rectangular stone case. One set is complete with five tablets; the other has four, missing the third. On the side edge of each tablet is inscribed ‘Epitaph of Lady Yeongbin of the Jeonui Yi Clan, No. ○’, and on the lower edge, ‘five in total’. The title reads ‘Royally Composed Epitaph of Lady Yeongbin’, showing that the text was written by King Yeongjo himself; the calligraphy was executed by Bak Myeong-won (1725–1790), who held the title of Geumseongwi and had married Princess Hwapyeong, the eldest daughter born to King Yeongjo and Lady Yeongbin. The epitaph text records Lady Yeongbin's lineage, the one son and six daughters she bore King Yeongjo, her character, and words of mourning written by the king. The inscription is arranged in nine lines of fifteen characters each, in regular script. The clay body is snow-white, the cobalt blue is well fired with no bleeding of the characters, and the glaze on the back was wiped off before the tablets were fired resting flat, so that they are largely free of warping — evidence of fine firing and workmanship. The myeonggi (miniature ritual vessels buried as grave goods) number twenty pieces in all, modelled on ritual vessels such as the bo, jak, incense burner and ho (jar). Their clay body and glaze are a pure white, and the base, supported on fine sand during firing, was ground smooth afterwards. The bo in particular is fully incised with decoration and has three small feet. Some pieces are damaged, and on some of the ho the body and lid have fused together because of the glaze, but overall their original form is well preserved. The seokam are three stone cases that each held a set of epitaph tablets and myeonggi. Grooves were cut into the interior of each case, and the tablets were excavated alternating with layers of sand. Two of the three cases retain their lids; the lid of the third is missing. As relics connected with the royal family in the late Joseon period, with a certain identified owner and an absolute date of 1764, these objects hold great historical and bibliographic value. They are also a rare case in which the epitaph tablets, myeonggi and stone cases all survive together, and given the fine cobalt-blue colour, excellent firing and well-preserved original form, they are also highly valuable for the study of art history, in particular the history of ceramics.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seodaemun-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산