19세기 조선의 서화수장(書畵收藏)과 중국서화의 유입

Abstract

This paper investigates a brief survey of the collecting of Chinese calligraphy and paintings by successive kings, royal descendants, yangban class, and middle-people (jung’in 中人) in the nineteenth century of Joseon. It was during the late Joseon period that each collection was gradually expanded and the construction of special storehouses for art works was resumed. Using the surviving palace records and art works, this study argues that the role of kings as collectors and patrons was essential not only to the maintenance of the collection but also to the strengthening of royal authority through the centuries in Joseon. In the seventeenth century, Sukjong restored the royal collection, which had been lost during the Manchu invasions. Under his reign, the rules for preservation of paintings and calligraphy were elaborated and the collection was enlarged. Sukjong’s successors such as Yeongjo, Cheongjo, and Heonjong greatly expanded the royal collection and developed the archive system. The royal collection in late Joseon was composed mainly of the objects that they had commissioned or collected. Seunghwa-ru Pavilion (承華樓) at Changdeok Palace and Jipgyeong-dang Hall (緝敬堂) were used as exclusive storehouses for paintings and calligraphy in nineteenth century. King’s five-generation-male descendants called as Jong chin (宗親) played a key role as collectors and patrons with a close relationship with scholar-officials. In succeeding to the earlier artistic tradition of royal descendants, the seventeenth- century Jong chin group mainly consisted of King Seonjo’s sons and grandsons. Among them. Nangseon’gun Yi U (朗善君 李., 1637-1693) was the most actively collecting Chinese paintings and calligraphy, and publishing albums of royal calligraphic works. Despite active commitment to arts by the seventeenth-century Jong chin group, their descendants did not have opportunities to succeed to the earlier tradition because their symbolic dignity was not supported by the court due to their political and genealogical declines. The collecting of calligraphic works and paintings through the generations by yangban group, noble class of Joseon, and middle-people works was the strongest means of encouraging artistic relationships, criticism, and connoisseurship in pre-modern Korea. Thanks to the economic basis, they accumulated many art works including calligraphy and paintings both of Korean and Chinese, albums of ink rubbings from steles, scholar' stationary, bronze vessels, porcelains, and jade disks from China. Such art collections made them possible to be influential in art circles and expert on criticism and connoisseurship. As recorded in documents and catalogues, in the nineteenth centuries, collectors kept a huge number of Chines writings and masterpieces by illustrious artists in the private storehouses. The history of collecting art works in the Joseon Dynasty enables us to understand the relations between art and society, and patrons and artists, but the connection between patronage and artistic style remains unclear. This issue will be the subject of a forthcoming study of the Joseon art collection.