• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.98
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• pp.104-129
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• 2020

Designated as a national treasure of Korea and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the Tripitaka Koreana at Haeinsa Temple is the world's oldest and most comprehensive extant version of the Tripitaka in Hanja script (i.e., Chinese characters). The set consists of 81,352 carved woodblocks, some of which have two or more copies, which are known as "duplicate woodblocks." These duplicates are supplementary woodblocks (bogakpan) that were carved some time after the original production, likely to replace blocks that had been eroded or damaged by repeated printings. According to the most recent survey, the number of supplementary woodblocks is 118, or approximately 0.14% of the total set, which attests to the outstanding preservation of the original woodblocks. Research on the supplementary woodblocks can reveal important details about the preservation and management of the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks. Most of the supplementary woodblocks were carved during the Joseon period (1392-1910) or Japanese colonial period (1910-1945). Although the details of the woodblocks from the Japanese colonial period have been recorded and organized to a certain extent, no such efforts have been made with regards to the woodblocks from the Joseon period. This paper analyzes the characteristics and production date of the supplementary woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana. The sutra with the most supplementary woodblocks is the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra (Perfection of Transcendental Wisdom), often known as the Heart Sutra. In fact, 76 of the total 118 supplementary woodblocks (64.4%) are for this sutra. Hence, analyses of printed versions of the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra should illuminate trends in the carving of supplementary woodblocks for the Tripitaka Koreana, including the representative characteristics of different periods. According to analysis of the 76 supplementary woodblocks of the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra, 23 were carved during the Japanese colonial period: 12 in 1915 and 11 in 1937. The remaining 53 were carved during the Joseon period at three separate times. First, 14 of the woodblocks bear the inscription "carved in the mujin year by Haeji" ("戊辰年更刻海志"). Here, the "mujin year" is estimated to correspond to 1448, or the thirtieth year of the reign of King Sejong. On many of these 14 woodblocks, the name of the person who did the carving is engraved outside the border. One of these names is Seonggyeong, an artisan who is known to have been active in 1446, thus supporting the conclusion that the mujin year corresponds to 1448. The vertical length of these woodblocks (inside the border) is 21 cm, which is about 1 cm shorter than the original woodblocks. Some of these blocks were carved in the Zhao Mengfu script. Distinguishing features include the appearance of faint lines on some plates, and the rough finish of the bottoms. The second group of supplementary woodblocks was carved shortly after 1865, when the monks Namho Yeonggi and Haemyeong Jangung had two copies of the Tripitaka Koreana printed. At the time, some of the pages could not be printed because the original woodblocks were damaged. This is confirmed by the missing pages of the extant copy that is now preserved at Woljeongsa Temple. As a result, the supplementary woodblocks are estimated to have been produced immediately after the printing. Evidently, however, not all of the damaged woodblocks could be replaced at this time, as only six woodblocks (comprising eight pages) were carved. On the 1865 woodblocks, lines can be seen between the columns, no red paint was applied, and the prayers of patrons were also carved into the plates. The third carving of supplementary woodblocks occurred just before 1899, when the imperial court of the Korean Empire sponsored a new printing of the Tripitaka Koreana. Government officials who were dispatched to supervise the printing likely inspected the existing blocks and ordered supplementary woodblocks to be carved to replace those that were damaged. A total of 33 supplementary woodblocks (comprising 56 pages) were carved at this time, accounting for the largest number of supplementary woodblocks for the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra. On the 1899 supplementary woodblocks, red paint was applied to each plate and one line was left blank at both ends.

• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.98
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• pp.176-199
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• 2020

In 2018, the National Museum of Korea purchased a pair of Japanese folding screens, respectively entitled Gathering on the Year's First "Day of the Rat" and Boating on the Oi River. Both of these two screens (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "NMK edition") have a gold background that bears the seal and ink inscription of Tosa Mitsuyoshi (1700-1772), who served as edokoro azukari, a painter in the court of Kyoto. According to the seller in New York, the screens were brought from Japan to the United States in the early twentieth century, but no other details are known. Each folding screen has six panels. The screen on the right (i.e., Gathering…) depicts "nenohi no asobi," an annual event conducted on the first "day of the rat" (according to the Asian zodiacal calendar), wherein the Kyoto imperial court ventured to the woods to gather pine seedlings. The left screen (i.e., Boating…) shows three boats traveling down the Oi River in Kyoto, representing the ritual known as "mifune" (literally, "three boats"), which involves three boats representing Chinese classical poetry (kansi), Japanese classical poetry (waka), and Japanese imperial music and dance (gagaku). Notably, these two screens are identical in theme and iconography to two screens with the same respective titles that were commissioned by Emperor Komei (1831-1867) and painted by Ukita Ikkei (1795-1859), an artist of the Yamato-e Revivalist School (fukko yamato-e), now in the collection of Sennyu-ji Temple in Kyoto (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Sennyu edition"). While both of these themes have been painted independently numerous times, the NMK edition and Sennyu edition are the only known cases of the themes being painted as a single set. According to Diary of Official Business Between the Court and Shogunate (the journal of a court official named Hirohashi Kanetane, 1715-1781), Tosa Mitsuyoshi was commissioned in 1760 to replace the fusuma (rectangular sliding panels) of Tsunegoten, one of the buildings of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, which had been built in 1709. Notably, records show that Tsunegoten once contained a series of fusuma painted by an artist of the Kano school on the themes "Outdoor Procession on a Spring Day" and "Three Boats Cruising on the Oi River." Hence, it seems probable that Tosa Mitsuyoshi was influenced by the theme and iconography of the existing fusuma in producing his own folding screens depicting the court's visit to the forest and a cruise on the Oi River. While the practice of collecting pine seedlings on the first "rat day" of the year was an auspicious event to pray for longevity, the mifune ritual was intended to honor the greatest talents of the three aforementioned arts, which were of crucial importance to the court of Kyoto. Folding screens with such auspicious themes were commonly featured at the ceremony to enthrone the emperor or empress. Significantly, the Diary of Official Business Between the Court and Shogunate also records that Tosa Mitsuyoshi, while working as a court artist, produced two pairs of folding screens for the coronation of Empress Go Sakuramachi (1762-1771), which was held in 1763. Hence, research suggests that the NMK edition is one of the pairs of royal folding screens produced at that time.

• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.104
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• pp.102-142
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• 2023

The Bronze Bell of Wongaksa Temple, also known as the Bosingak Bell, was produced in 1468 during the reign of King Sejo for dedication at Wongaksa Temple in the middle of the capital Hanyang in celebration of the tenth anniversary of his accession to the throne. It is currently heavily damaged and cannot be struck. This paper focuses on the man-made damage inflicted on the Bosingak Bell and explores when, why, and by whom the bell was damaged along with the historical significance of this damage. In the first section, the relevant literature is reviewed and the problems concerned, research perspective, and methodology are presented. The history of related theories is investigated focusing on the relationship between Bosingak Bell and Wongaksa Bell. The perspective that Bosingak Bell and Wongaksa Bell are the same is introduced. My discussion will be developed from this perspective. In the second section, the background to King Sejo's construction of Wongaksa Bell is examined. Specifically, the bells commissioned by the kings of the early Joseon era are divided into court bells (jojong) and Buddhist bells (beomjong). They total four court bells and three Buddhist bells. The former are the Jongnu Tower Bell commissioned by King Taejo, Donhwamun Gate Bell by King Taejong, Gwanghwamun Gate Bell by King Sejong, and Sajeongjeon Hall Bell by King Sejo. The latter are the bells of Yongmunsa, Heungcheonsa (or Jeongneungsa) and Wongaksa Temples, all of which were made during the reign of King Sejo. Sejo also made Wongaksa Bell and gave it the meaning that the monarch and the Buddha both wish to enlighten the people through the sound of the bells. In the third section, traces of the man-made damage done to Bosingak Bell are closely examined. By observing the current condition of Bosingak Bell and comparing it with the contemporaneous Heungcheongsa Bell (1462) and Bongseonsa Bell (1469), the components of Bosingak Bell that were damaged can be identified. The damaged parts are again divided into Buddhist elements and non-Buddhist elements. The former includes the reversed lotus petals on the shoulder band, four standing bodhisattvas, and the inscription of the bell composed by Choe Hang. The latter includes lists of chief supervisors (dojejo). I describe the phenomenon of deliberately damaging Buddhist elements on bells as "effacement of Buddhism," meaning Buddhist images and inscriptions are eliminated, and I note the prevailing rejection of Buddhism theory among Neo-Confucianists as its ideological root. The erasure of non-Buddhist images was probably caused by political conflicts such as Yeonsangun's purge in 1504. Since both ideological and political factors played a role in the changes made to Bosingak Bell, the damage was possibly done between the Purge of 1504 and the abdication of Yeonsangun in 1506. Chapter four traces the transformation of the Buddhist bell of Wongaksa Temple into the Bosingak court bell. Finally completed in 1468, the Wongaksa Bell only served its role as a Buddhist bell at related services for a relatively brief period of 36 years (until 1504). Wongaksa Temple was closed down and the bell lost its Buddhist function. In 1536, it was moved from Wongaksa Temple to Namdaemun Gate, where it remained silent for the next 90 years until it was struck again in November 1594. However, after the destruction of the Jongnu Bell in a fire during the Japanese Invasions of Korea (1592-1598), the Buddhist bell from Wongaksa Temple became a court bell. The Wongaksa Temple bell was relocated to Jongnu Tower in 1619, traveling through Myeongdong Pass. From then on, as the official Jongnu Bell (later renamed Bosingak Bell), it was regularly rung at dawn and dusk every day for nearly 300 years until 1908, when Japanese authorities halted the ritual. The transformation of the Wongaksa Bell (a Buddhist bell) to Bosingak Bell (a court bell) means that the voice of the Buddha was changed to the voice of the king. The concept of "effacement of Buddhism," evident in the transformation of Wongaksa Bell to Bosingak Bell, was practiced widely on almost every manifestation of Buddhism throughout the Joseon period. In short, the damage evident in Bosingak Bell underscores the debuddhismization in Korean society during the Joseon Dynasty.

• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.97
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• pp.87-104
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• 2020

Myogilsang on Diamond Mountain, signed and dated (2000) by Seon-u Yeong (1946-2009), is the first work by a North Korean artist to enter the collection of the National Museum of Korea (fig. 1a). The donor acquired the painting directly from the artist in Pyeongyang in 2006. In consequence, there are no issues with the painting's authenticity.This painting is the largest among all existing Korean paintings, whether contemporary or from the Joseon Dynasty, to depict this iconography (see chart 1. A Chronological List of Korean Myogilsang Paintings.) It is ink and color on paper, measures 130.2 × 56.2 centimeters, and is in a hanging scroll format. Since this essay is intended as a brief introduction of the painting and not in-depth research into it, I will simply examine the following four areas: 1. Seon-u Yeong's background; 2. The location and the traditional appellation of the rock-cut image known as Myogilsang; 3. The iconography of the image; and 4) A comparative analysis of Seon-u Yeong's painting in light of other paintings on the same theme. Finally, I will present two more of his works to broaden the understanding of Seon-u Yeong as a painter. 1. Seon-u Yeong: According to the donor, who met Seon-u at his workshop in the Cheollima Jejakso (Flying Horse Workshop) three years before the artist's death, he was an individual of few words but displayed a firm commitment to art. His preference for subjects such as Korean landscapes rather than motifs of socialist realism such as revolutionary leaders is demonstrated by the fact that, relative to his North Korean contemporaries, he seems to have produced more paintings of the former. In recent years, Seon-u Yeong has been well publicized in Korea through three special exhibitions (2012 through 2019). He graduated from Pyeongyang College of Fine Arts in 1969 and joined the Central Fine Arts Production Workshop focusing on oil painting. In 1973 he entered the Joseon Painting Production Workshop and began creating traditional Korean paintings in ink and color. His paintings are characterized by intense colors and fine details. The fact that his mother was an accomplished embroidery specialist may have influenced on Seon-u's choice to use intense colors in his paintings. By 1992, he had become a painter representing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with several titles such as Artist of Merit, People's Artist, and more. About 60 of his paintings have been designated as National Treasures of the DPRK. 2. The Myogilsang rock-cut image is located in the Manpok-dong Valley in the inner Geumgangsan Mountain area. It is a high-relief image about 15 meters tall cut into a niche under 40 meters of a rock cliff. It is the largest of all the rock-cut images of the Goryeo period. This image is often known as "Mahayeon Myogilsang," Mahayeon (Mahayana) being the name of a small temple deep in the Manpokdong Valley (See fig. 3a & 3b). On the right side of the image, there is an intaglio inscription of three Chinese characters by the famous scholar-official and calligrapher Yun Sa-guk (1728-1709) reading "妙吉祥"myogilsang (fig. 4a, 4b). 3. The iconography: "Myogilsang" is another name for the Bhodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The Chinese pronunciation of Myogilsang is "miaojixiang," which is similar in pronunciation to Mañjuśrī. Therefore, we can suggest a 妙吉祥 ↔ Mañjuśrī formula for the translation and transliteration of the term. Even though the image was given a traditional name, the mudra presented by the two hands in the image calls for a closer examination. They show the making of a circle by joining the thumb with the ring finger (fig. 6). If the left land pointed downward, this mudra would conventionally be considered "lower class: lower life," one of the nine mudras of the Amitabha. However, in this image the left hand is placed across its abdomen at an almost 90-degree angle to the right hand (fig. 6). This can be interpreted as a combination of the "fear not" and the "preaching" mudras (see note 10, D. Saunders). I was also advised by the noted Buddhist art specialist Professor Kim Jeong-heui (of Won'gwang University) to presume that this is the "preaching" mudra. Therefore, I have tentatively concluded that this Myogilsang is an image of the Shakyamuni offering the preaching mudra. There is no such combination of hand gestures in any other Goryeo-period images. The closest I could identify is the Beopjusa Rock-cut Buddha (fig. 7) from around the same time. 4. Comparative analysis: As seen in , except for the two contemporary paintings, all others on this chart are in ink or ink and light color. Also, none of them included the fact that the image is under a 40-meter cliff. In addition, the Joseon-period paintings all depicted the rock-cut image as if it were a human figure, using soft brushstrokes and rounded forms. None of these paintings accurately rendered the mudra from the image as did Seon-u. Only his painting depicts the natural setting of the image under the cliff along with a realistic rendering of the image. However, by painting the tall cliff in dark green and by eliminating elements on either side of the rock-cut image, the artist was able to create an almost surreal atmosphere surrounding the image. Herein lies the uniqueness of Seon-u Yeong's version. The left side of Seon-u's 2007 work Mount Geumgang (fig. 8) lives up to his reputation as a painter who depicts forms (rocks in this case) in minute detail, but in the right half of the composition it also shows his skill at presenting a sense of space. In contrast, Wave (fig. 9), a work completed one year before his death, displays his faithfulness to the traditions of ink painting. Even based on only three paintings by Seon-u Yeong, it seems possible to assess his versatility in both traditional ink and color mediums.

• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.96
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• pp.239-260
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• 2019

This paper examines the circulation and dissemination of painting during and after the nineteenth century through a case study on the One Hundred Fans paintings produced as decorative folding screens at the time. One Hundred Fans paintings refer to depictions of layers of fans in various shapes on which pictures of diverse themes are drawn. Fans and paintings on fans were depicted on paintings before the nineteenth century. However, it was in the nineteenth century that they began to be applied as subject matter for decorative paintings. Reflecting the trend of enjoying extravagant hobbies, fans and paintings on fans were mainly produced as folding screens. The folding screen of One Hundred Fans from the collection of the Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt (hereafter Rothenbaum Museum) in Germany was first introduced to Korean in the exhibition The City in Art, Art in the City held at the National Museum of Korea in 2016. Each panel in this six-panel folding screen features more than five different fans painted with diverse topics. This folding screen is of particular significance since the National Museum of Korea holds the original drawings. In the nineteenth century, calligraphy and painting that had formerly been enjoyed by Joseon royal family members and the nobility in private spaces began to spread among common people and was distributed through markets. In accordance with the trend of adorning households, colorful decorative paintings were preferred, leading to the popularization of the production of One Hundred Fans folding screens with pictures in different shapes and themes. A majority of the Korean collection in the Rothenbaum Museum belonged to Heinrich Constantin Eduard Meyer(1841~1926), a German businessman who served as the Joseon consul general in Germany. From the late 1890s until 1905, Meyer traveled back and forth between Joseon and Germany and collected a wide range of Korean artifacts. After returning to Germany, he sequentially donated his collections, including One Hundred Fans, to the Rothenbaum Museum. Folding screens like One Hundred Fans with their fresh and decorative beauty may have attracted the attention of foreigners living in Joseon. The One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum is an intriguing work in that during its treatment, a piece of paper with the inscription of the place name "Donghyeon" was found pasted upside down on the back of the second panel. Donghyeon was situated in between Euljiro 1-ga and Euljiro 2-ga in present-day Seoul. During the Joseon Dynasty, a domestic handicraft industry boomed in the area based on licensed shops and government offices, including the Dohwaseo (Royal Bureau of Painting), Hyeminseo (Royal Bureau of Public Dispensary), and Jangagwon (Royal Bureau of Music). In fact, in the early 1900s, shops selling calligraphy and painting existed in Donghyeon. Thus, it is very likely that the shops where Meyer purchased his collection of calligraphy and painting were located in Donghyeon. The six-panel folding screen One Hundred Fans in the collection of the Rothenbaum Museum is thought to have acquired its present form during a process of restoring Korean artifacts works in the 1980s. The original drawings of One Hundred Fans currently housed in the National Museum of Korea was acquired by the National Folk Museum of Korea between 1945 and 1950. Among the seven drawings of the painting, six indicate the order of their panels in the margins, which relates that the painting was originally an eight-panel folding screen. Each drawing shows more than five different fans. The details of these fans, including small decorations and patterns on the ribs, are realistically depicted. The names of the colors to be applied, including 'red ocher', 'red', 'ink', and 'blue', are written on most of the fans, while some are left empty or 'oil' is indicated on them. Ten fans have sketches of flowers, plants, and insects or historical figures. A comparison between these drawings and the folding screen of One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum has revealed that their size and proportion are identical. This shows that the Rothenbaum Museum painting follows the directions set forth in the original drawings. The fans on the folding screen of One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum are painted with images on diverse themes, including landscapes, narrative figures, birds and flowers, birds and animals, plants and insects, and fish and crabs. In particular, flowers and butterflies and fish and crabs were popular themes favored by nineteenth century Joseon painters. It is noteworthy that the folding screen One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum includes several scenes recalling the typical painting style of Kim Hong-do, unlike other folding screens of One Hundred Fans or Various Paintings and Calligraphy. As a case in point, the theme of "Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden" is depicted in the Rothenbaum folding screen even though it is not commonly included in folding screens of One Hundred Fans or One Hundred Paintings due to spatial limitations. The scene of "Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden" in the Rothenbaum folding screen bears a resemblance to Kim Hong-do's folding screen of Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden at the National Museum of Korea in terms of its composition and style. Moreover, a few scenes on the Rothenbaum folding screen are similar to examples in the Painting Album of Byeongjin Year produced by Kim Hong-do in 1796. The painter who drew the fan paintings on the Rothenbaum folding screen is presumed to have been influenced by Kim Hong-do since the fan paintings of a landscape similar to Sainsam Rock, an Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden, and a Pair of Pheasants are all reminiscent of Kim's style. These paintings in the style of Kim Hong-do are reproduced on the fans left empty in the original drawings. The figure who produced both the original drawings and fan paintings appears to have been a professional painter influenced by Kim Hong-do. He might have appreciated Kim's Painting Album of Byeongjin Year or created duplicates of Painting Album of Byeongjin Year for circulation in the art market. We have so far identified about ten folding screens remaining with the One Hundred Fans. The composition of these folding screens are similar each other except for a slight difference in the number and proportion of the fans or reversed left and right sides of the fans. Such uniform composition can be also found in the paintings of scholar's accoutrements in the nineteenth century. This suggests that the increasing demand for calligraphy and painting in the nineteenth century led to the application of manuals for the mass production of decorative paintings. As the demand for colorful decorative folding screens with intricate designs increased from the nineteenth century, original drawings began to be used as models for producing various paintings. These were fully utilized when making large-scale folding screens with images such as Guo Ziyi's Enjoyment-of-Life Banquet, Banquet of the Queen Mother of the West, One Hundred Children, and the Sun, Cranes and Heavenly Peaches, all of which entailed complicated patterns. In fact, several designs repeatedly emerge in the extant folding screens, suggesting the use of original drawings as models. A tendency toward using original drawings as models for producing folding screens in large quantities in accordance with market demand is reflected in the production of the folding screens of One Hundred Fans filled with fans in different shapes and fan paintings on diverse themes. In the case of the folding screens of One Hundred Paintings, bordering frames are drawn first and then various paintings are executed inside the frames. In folding screens of One Hundred Fans, however, fans in diverse forms were drawn first. Accordingly, it must have been difficult to produce them in bulk. Existing examples are relatively fewer than other folding screens. As discussed above, the folding screen of One Hundred Fans at the Rothenbaum Museum and its original drawings at the National Museum of Korea aptly demonstrate the late Joseon painting trend of embracing and employing new painting styles. Further in-depth research into the Rothenbaum painting is required in that it is a rare example exhibiting the influence of Kim Hong-do compared to other paintings on the theme of One Hundred Fans whose composition and painting style are more similar to those found in the work of Bak Gi-jun.