- Museum number
- 2000,0609,0.1
- Description
-
Ten panel screen showing Koreans paying tribute to the Chinese court. Choson Dynasty, 19th century.
- Production date
-
19thC
-
20thC(early)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 145.70 centimetres (image)
-
Height: 165.75 centimetres (with mount)
-
Width: 355.25 centimetres (overall image)
-
Width: 375.25 centimetres (overall with mount)
- Curator's comments
-
Read from left to right, the screen shows Chinese, Central Asians and others presenting gifts to the Korean emperor. The painting follows Chinese works that depict a ruler receiving tribute, but here, importantly, the artist has substituted a depiction of the Korean emperor as the figure in power. It was probably created during the brief period of the Greater Korean Empire (1897-1910), when Korea’s long-standing tributary relationship with China was finally severed. The screen proclaims Korea’s new, strong position in the international arena. Noteworthy is the physical presence of the monarch, which differs from the custom in the preceding Choson Dynasty to indirectly represent the ruler by his throne and regalia of a screen painted with the sun and moon.
-
2016 National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage catalogue entries:
'This screen is a royal court painting of late Joseon period that depicts a tribute scene to the “Son of Heaven” (天子). The theme originates from the royal audience of lords and ethnic chiefs with King Wu of Zhou (周武王, r. 1046–1043 BC). Paintings depicting processions of tribute bearers were produced during Tang (618-907) and Qing (1644-1912) China to show the empire's power and effective ethnocracy. From the end of the 18th-century, the theme was taken up in Joseon to symbolize peace within a Confucian world order. The screens were produced by court painters for the residences of royal men, particularly the king and the crown prince.
On the right on the 1st to 3rd panels, the king or the Son of Heaven is sitting in a pavilion and the lords and courtiers are having an audience with the king. The guard of honor is lined up with the flags, and various emissaries are rendering tribute to the king in turn. The procession continues to the stairs, garden and outside the palace gate. The tributes include not only precious birds such as silver pheasant, falcon, parrot and mallard, but also some exotic animals of lamb, Persian horse, camel and elephant. Even imaginary creatures are depicted in the tribute procession, including mo (貊, imaginary tapir), blue lion and qilin (麒麟, imaginary giraffe).
The rails of the pavilion are painted with green, denoting that they arecarved from jade, and the pillars and frame structure of the buildings are decorated in vivid colors. The horizontal shape of colored clouds, radial shape of leaves of tree represent the stylized pattern of decorative court painting of nineteenth-century Joseon. This screen painting ostensibly emphasizes Confucian-centric diplomacy, and implies the exotic and decorative taste of royal family. It is also interesting that the image reverses the reality and the ideal, by depicting many tribute bearers in costume of the Manchu, the ruling ethnicity of Qing China that was the superior power of East Asia at the time.'
'이 10폭 병풍은 왕회도王會圖의 주제를 표현한 조선후기의 왕실회화이다. 왕회도는 주周 무왕武王이 천자天子로서 제후와 번족蕃族들의 알현을 받았다는 고사에서 유래하였다. 이민족의 조공 행렬 그림은 제국의 위세를 과시할 목적으로 특히 당대와 청대에 유행하였으며, 조선에서는 18세기 말에 왕실회화의 주제로 수용되었다. 이상적 유교 정치가 펼쳐지는 태평성대를 염원하는 행사용 병풍으로 제작하였으며, 왕과 왕세자의 거처 등 궁궐 내 남성의 공간을 장식하였다.
이 병풍은 제1-3폭의 월대 위 전각에 앉은 천자를 향해 공물을 바치는 조공 행렬을 담고 있다. 2중의 월대 위에는 제후와 신하들이 천자를 배알하고 있으며, 깃발을 든 의장대 사이로 이민족들이 공물을 들고 입조하고 있다. 이민족의 행렬은 월대 아래를 지나 궐문 바깥까지 이어지는데 흰꿩, 매, 앵무, 오리 등 진귀한 새와 양, 준마, 낙타, 코끼리 등의 이국적 동물들을 바치기 위해 기다리는 모습으로 표현되었다. 뿐만 아니라 불가사리[貊], 청사자, 기린 등 상상의 동물까지도 공물의 대상에 포함되어있다. 월대 난간은 녹색으로 채색하여 옥난간임을 표현하였고 기와와 단청에 이르기까지 화려하게 채색하여 천자의 궁궐을 호화롭게 묘사하였다. 가로로 펼쳐지는 은은한 채색 구름, 방사상으로 도식화된 나뭇잎 등 19세기 도화서에서 양식화된 궁중장식화의 특징이 잘 드러난다. 이 <왕회도> 병풍은 유교적 치세라는 왕실회화에 걸맞은 주제 아래 이국적이고 장식적인 취미를 드러내고 있다. 또 청나라 복식을 입은 이민족이 공물을 바치는 모습을 통해 조선이 청의 조공국이라는 현실을 뒤집어 표현한 것도 흥미롭다.'
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2010 - 2011 Jul, BM Galleries, Korea Gallery 67
- Acquisition date
- 2000
- Acquisition notes
- Christie's New York sale, 23 March 2000, Sale no. 9392
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2000,0609,0.1
