정조의 중희당 친림도정의 의미와 <乙巳親政契屛>(1785)

Abstract

This paper analyzed the screen painting, Appointment Ceremony in the Year of Eulsa(1785) to prove that it reflects the personnel reformation of King Jeongjo(r. 1776-1800). The Eulsa screen depicts the appointment ceremony in which Jengjo attended and directly selected candidates for the Board of Personnel and the Military affairs in 1784. In this ceremony, Jeongjo applied the newly established ordinance for personnel system, in which he limited the right of Board of Personnel and reinforced the authority of the king himself. The Eulsa screen is distinctive from the previous appointment ceremony paintings which were traditionally ordered by the members of the Board of Personnel. First, the Eulsa screen was bestowed by the king to the attendants of the ceremony including the Royal Secretariats and the officers of the Board of Personnel, while the previous examples were produced from the fund collected by the Board of Personnel members. Secondly, the Eulsa screen includes the attendants’ poems which were rhymed after the verse of Jeongjo while the previous paintings contain the preface by the minister of Personnel Board. The group of rhymed poems in Eulsa screen, which celebrated the king’s grace granted on this event in one voice, reflects the political function of the screen. Thirdly, the pictorial structure of Eulsa screen reveals the visual strategy to strengthen the authority of the king. The Eulsa screen situates the king in the upper center of the screen facing south whereas previous examples located the throne either left or right side. The symmetrical composition of Eulsa screen with the king in the center, builds the visual hierarchy between the king and his officials. In conclusion, the screen painting Appointment Ceremony in the year of Eulsa functioned as a royal gift and monument, which displayed Jeongjo’s fortified authority on appointing the officials.