『흠영(欽英)』을 통해 본 유만주(兪晩柱)의 서화 감상과 수집 활동

Abstract

This paper explores an eighteenth century scholar, Yu Man-ju's art collection represented in his daily records entitled Heumyeong (欽英), now kept in the Kyujang-gak Archives. As a descendent of Gigye Yu clan (gigye yu-ssi 杞溪兪氏), one of the illustrious families of late Joseon, Yu Man-ju (兪晩柱, 1755~1788, sobriquet Heumyeong) was a prolific writer who left voluminous records under the intellectual and artistic ambience of the family. His diary, Heumyeong written for 13 years, is a miscellany that contains vast information on various Confucianist books, novels, paintings, calligraphic works, manuals of painting, and antiques exposed to his daily experiences. The collecting of calligraphic works and paintings through generations by the yangban group, the noble class of Joseon, was the strongest means of encouraging artistic relationships, criticism, and connoisseurship in pre-modern Korea. Thanks to the economic basis and close ties with his friends, Yu Man-ju accumulated many art works including calligraphy and paintings both of Korean and Chinese, albums of ink rubbings of steles (古碑搨帖), scholar's paraphernalia, and even Western pictorial maps. One of the records presenting his art collection venue is that of November 15, 1783 in which he looked through 114 pieces of painting and calligraphy scrolls. The fact that the scrolls cover varied subjects including landscape, figure, bird and flower, and Taoist immortals implies that such various paintings were circulated and transacted in antique markets of late Joseon. Being naturally interested in reading books and appreciating art works, Yu Man-ju collected a huge number of writings and masterpieces by prominent artists in his private storehouse, the Heumyeong-gak Pavilion (欽英閣). The highlight of his collection are the cursive script calligraphic works by famous Ming artists, Zhang Bi (張弼) and Wang Duo (王鐸) whom he highly admired. Yu Man-ju's collecting of arts was deeply related to his taste for Ming-Ching calligraphy which he considered as the ideals of his contemporary culture. Unfortunately, because his collection was almost scattered after his death, the surviving works have not yet been found. His records, however, witnessed an extraordinary surge in collecting of art works in the late Joseon period.