This paper deals with royal collection of calligraphic works by successive kings of the Chos?n dynasty(1392`1910) and procedures concerning printing them into woodblock or lithographic types. As did records of the superintendency for court events, ...
This paper deals with royal collection of calligraphic works by successive kings of the Chos?n dynasty(1392`1910) and procedures concerning printing them into woodblock or lithographic types. As did records of the superintendency for court events, ?igwe(儀軌), preliminary records of ?igwe named d?ngnok(謄錄) played a model role to handle all procedures of court events. Thus, the main source in this paper, ?lsa y?lls?ng ?p'il ganjin g?p ky?ngjong taewang ?p'il by?ngp'ung d?ngnok(乙巳列聖御筆刊進及景宗大王御筆屛風謄錄), Record of Procedures Making Albums of Royal Calligraphic Works and Screen of Calligraphy by King Ky?ngjong in the cyclical year, ?lsa, 1725, gives us various information of compiling and publishing royal calligraphic works into both woodblock and lithographic prints. According to this record, after over 300 pieces of prints were made, some were preserved in palace or some were bestowed to the royal families and government officials. Such a large amount of prints caused to make many royal calligraphic prints kept in palaces since the seventeenth century when printing of royal calligraphic works has started.
Given the history of collection of royal calligraphic works in palace, the era of King Y?ngjo(r.1724~1776) is a bridge that links between the eras of King Sukjong(r.1674~1720) and King Ch?ngjo(r.1776~1800), because royal collection has been gradually expanded during the reigns of these three kings.
In 1725, calligraphic works by successive kings were printed into the two types: woodblock and lithography. In order to make them, by King Y?ngjo's order, the officials began gathering authentic royal calligraphy, then many skillful artisans sent from various branches of government offices carved kings' writings on wooden or lithographic plates, rubbed them with ink, and finally mounted them as a type of album or folding screen. It was revealed that though the Bureau of Royal Descendants(宗親府) governed all procedures in cooperation with other government offices, King Y?ngjo always made an important decision. Sometimes he wrote a predecessor's name as a label of his calligraphy, a symbolic activity to show his respect for the previous king. More details concerning making prints are discussed in this paper.
In conclusion, thanks to the printing huge amount of royal calligraphy in palace and bestowing prints of royal calligraphy on officials, private collectors have been encouraged to posses them as precious ink traces. Probably it was one of the main reasons to make private collection of royal paintings and calligraphy enlarged since the seventeenth century.