This is an integrated study of screens made and used for royal wedding ceremonies. Screens for royal wedding ceremonies are the screens which is put in the places of this ceremonies. These encompasse not only the places where the ceremonies are held b...
This is an integrated study of screens made and used for royal wedding ceremonies. Screens for royal wedding ceremonies are the screens which is put in the places of this ceremonies. These encompasse not only the places where the ceremonies are held but also the places in which the bride and groom stay.
There has not been any study on the screens for royal wedding ceremonies. As the focus of the existing studies has been brought on Uigwe (儀軌), no analysis has been made on the screens for wedding ceremonies of the classes lower than crown prince. The screens used for wedding ceremonies of princes, princesses, and concubines that are not recorded by Uigwe are recorded in royal documents such as Deungnok (謄錄) and Ilgi (日記). This study took notice of this and investigated the history of making and using screens recorded in Garyedeungnok (嘉禮謄錄) to include the wedding ceremonies of princes, princesses, and concubines to the scope of research. And this study was made for the way screens function, being correlated with the ceremonies or spaces where such ceremonies are held.
The fact the procedures and size of wedding ceremonies differed depending on the royal class is well shown on The Five Rites of the State (國朝五禮儀), Revision of the Five Rites of the State (國朝續五禮儀), and Manual of Royal Wedding Ceremonies (國婚定例). Manual of Royal Wedding Ceremonies especially deals with the types and sizes of objects used for wedding ceremonies. It shows that the use of screens for wedding ceremonies are substantially changed on the basis of this books and that the quantity and size of screens varied from royal rankings.
The documents that recorded wedding ceremonies, including 20 volumes of Uigwe, 22 of Deungnok, and 1 of Ilgi demonstrate how screen was used according to the books on etiquette (儀禮書). It shows that the wedding ceremonies had similarity by class in the use of screens between king and crown prince, between prince and concubine, and between princesses. Then they were classified into three categories by time. The 1st period starts from the year the oldest Uigwe of wedding ceremony was written and ends with the enactment of Manual of Royal Wedding Ceremonies. The 2nd period starts after the enactment of Manual of Royal Wedding Ceremonies and ends with the King Jeongjo (正祖, r. 1742-1800)'s resignation, while the 3rd period falls into the 19th century.
Wedding ceremonies, spaces, and screens placed in the spaces are interrelated. On the basis of this idea, this study was made for the characteristics and functions of screens installed in each space, classifying the spaces for wedding ceremonies into Byeolgung (別宮), Jeongcheong (正廳), Palace, and Dongroeyeoncheong (同牢宴廳) according to the order of ceremonies and their underlying meanings.
Byeolgung, so-called detached palace, which stands in the middle of palace and private residence, is where the bride prepares herself to be a member of royal family. Various screens for decoration widely used in a palace in the 19th century such as Banquet of Guo Ziyi (郭汾陽行樂圖), Hundreds of boys (百童子圖), and Immortals’ Feast on Yoji Pond (瑤池宴圖) used to be installed in the Byeolgung. That these pictures were suddenly employed in the wedding ceremony of King Sunjo (純祖, r. 1790-1734) shows substantial influence of the trend of general people in late 18c.
Jeongcheong of Byeolgung and palace, the space where the wedding ceremony takes place, is decorated with screen of peonies (牧丹圖) to add up the ceremonial character. Although screen of peonies is a ceremonial object widely used in royal ceremonies, there has not been any research of specific case of using in the wedding ceremony. For the first time, I found the actual cases of screen of peonies used in the wedding ceremonies from the Garyedeungnok of prince and princess.
In Dongroeyeoncheong, the most important space for wedding ceremony with the meaning of tying the knot, decorative painting screens are chosen such as Ten Symbols of Longevity (十長生圖) until mid 18c. However, according to the Manual of Royal Wedding Ceremonies reenacted by King Yeongjo (英祖, r. 1694-1776) who laid emphasis on frugality, white screens (素屛) started to be placed in the late 18c. I also found that the screens of Ten Symbols of Longevity usually placed in Dongroeyeoncheong until mid 18c changes the function from wedding ceremony to royal banquet in the early 19c. It was placed behind the host of banquets to symbolize his/her status in the event.
This study inquires into how painting was made and used in the royal wedding ceremonies through a medium called screen and takes note of symbolic characters of screen in the ceremony and in the space where such ceremony is held to probe into the correlation between ceremony and painting as well as multi-level context of royal painting in and out of ceremonies. It is designed for in-depth understanding in the royal decorative painting, beyond mere understanding in the characteristics and functions of royal screen painting, through an assertion that the theme of screen is selected under highly systematic intention.