朝鮮時代 契會圖 硏究 = (A)study of Kyehoe-do (契會圖), paintings of gatherings in Ch˘oson dynasty

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Kyehoe-do(契會圖) is the painting of specific events called kyehoe(契 會), gatherings of scholar-officials of the Chosŏn dynasty(1392-1910). The main purpose to make kyehoe-do is for commemorating special events by describing views from the gathering. The kyehoe played its role as an opportunity to tie scholar-officials with strong fraternity and to foster close relationships among them. Kyehoe-do, the main theme in this dissertation, can be defined as the paintings in various subjects and forms produced throughout the Chosŏn dynasty by recording and sketching the scenes for the commemoration.

The gatherings of scholar-officials have the multi-faces aspects despite its similar features with other gatherings such as those for sociability (社交契) and friendship (交遊契). It has more focused on participants' social class, native place, official position, bureaucratic experiences, and an extant of their intimacy in scholar-officials' gatherings. Such gatherings were held on the basis of scholar-officials' affinity, regular meeting, and a rule to produce same several paintings. Their affinity was combined with the conception that their meeting was possible not because of choice but because of fate. Their strong ties are one of the important reasons to create a lot of paintings of gatherings in Chosŏn dynasty.

The category of gatherings include tong'gwan kyeho(同官契會), gathering of officials at the same government office; togam kyehoe(都監契會), gathering of officials who participated in a national ceremony; tongbang kyehoe (同榜契會), gathering of colleagues who passed the same state examination together; tong'gyŏng kyehoe(同庚契會), gathering of officials with the same age;
kirohoe(耆老會) or kiyŏng‘hoe(耆英會), gathering of elder officials; and other unofficial gatherings. In addition, gatherings of meritorious subjects and king' favorite officials are included in this category. The patrons supporting to make paintings concerning the events are old-retired officials or others servicing at the government office. In the late Chosŏn period, making the paintings was rapidly spread among upper and middle people(中人) who resided in local districts. Scholar-officials usually possessed them, however, court painters, professional painters, and many unidentified painters probably being active in local districts painted the works. Therefore, many works by them show their skillful or inexpert brushworks and various painting styles.

Kyehoe-do consists of several parts: view from the gathering, list of participants' names, poetic preface, and colophon. These elements let us know that when and where the gathering was held, and who participated in it. The preface and colophon also help us to understand the event and the painting provides us vivid scene of the gathering.

Kyehoe-do has the two kinds of origins: one is from kirohoe(耆老會) or kiyŏng‘hoe(耆英會) and the other one is from the literati gatherings. The former began with Haedong kiryohoe(海東耆老會, gathering of Korean elders) by Ch'oi Dang(崔讜) of the Koryŏ dynasty, which was derived from Hyangsan guro-hoe (香山九老會, gathering of nine elders in Hsiang-shan mountain) and Nagyang giyŏng-hoe(洛陽耆英會, gathering of elders in Loyang) of the Tang and Song dynasties China. The Koryŏ Haedong kiryohoe painting was the model for the painting of kiyŏng‘hoe depicted in later periods. Gatherings by scholar-officials of the Chosŏn dynasty are supposed to be originated from those of the Koryŏ dynasty, nevertheless, the date when the paintings were initially created is not clear. The only suggestion that such works were started from the painting of literati gatherings containing list of names and colophon mounted in hanging scroll.

Created by various backgrounds mentioned above, kyehoe-do have been developed since the fifteenth century succeeding to the Koryŏ tradition, flourished between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and finally diminished during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the fifteenth century, paintings of gathering by elders and literati gatherings by scholar-officials were gradually produced, while various works of the gatherings of officials at the same government office(同官契會圖) were created in the sixteenth century. In particular, the practice of welcoming ceremony for a newly recruited official, sinch'amrye(新參禮), is the main cause that such paintings became to be prolific in this period. It deserves to focus that the true-view landscape scene was depicted as a setting in the sixteenth century.

It was the seventeenth century that paintings of togam kyehoe(都監契 會), tongbang kyehoe(同榜契會), and tong'gyŏng kyehoe(同庚契會) flourished while paintings of tong'gwan kyeho(同官契會) were slowly decreased. In addition, paintings of various gatherings of both official and unofficial were made and some of them were perceived as artworks for appreciation. Tong'gyŏng kyehoe was more favored by gentries and middle people in local districts because this gathering was to make easily for them without difficulties. Paintings of tongbang kyehoe and tong'gyŏng kyehoe mainly focused to depict the banquet of the gathering in a landscape scenery whereas the important part in paintings of togam kyehoe is the scene of officials' performance of duty in a national ritual ceremony.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, somewhat different styles were applied in paintings of gatherings as the previous model painting styles were vanished. In this context, the history of kyehoe-do in Chosŏn dynasty can be broadly fallen to the several stages: fifteenth century as a period of formation, sixteenth century as a period of popularity, seventeenth century as a period of diversity, and after eighteenth century as periods of downhill. Many works by unidentified painters in the early Chosŏn period definitely show the period style, however, in the late Chosŏn period, painters writing their real names on the works tried to present their personal styles.

Sometimes kyehoe-do as an artwork for appreciation contains various motifs such as birds and flowers, Taoist immortals, and an ideal landscape, that might appear to be an alterative distinct from typical items shown in modeled style. In other side, such painting was created in order to cherish a participant's memory concerning the gathering for a long time because it was something significant over the "visual records". For a scholar-official of the Chosŏn dynasty, kyehoe-do was not only his personal commemorative work but also the colleagues' one at the moment of sharing fellowship altogether.