From courtly refinement to popular imagination: the Korean book screen (Chaekgeori)

From courtly refinement to popular imagination: the Korean folding screen with books (Chaekgeori)

Lecture by Okyang CHAE-DUPORGE, Lecturer at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne.
Le chaekgeori (Book painting) is a Korean still-life genre, usually painted on a folding screen, depicting books and various related objects. It is intended for the masculine space of the study. This theme was widely popularized by King Jeongjo (1752–1800), who wished to encourage a taste for classical Chinese literature and demonstrate his high degree of erudition through depictions of books. He even left writings requesting court painters to create a book painting to be hung behind him, in a space normally reserved for the interior.rworobongdoThe "painting of the sun, moon, and five peaks," a quintessential royal representation. The theme of the chaekgeori was also introduced as an exam topic for the chabi daeryeong hwawon (painters awaiting royal commission) working at the Kyujanggak, a royal research center and library, where the best court painters were selected (hwawon).

A court painter (hwawŏn) at work.

Ten-symbols-of-longevity. Ten-panel screen. 1880, color on silk. ©University of Oregon Museum.

The most remarkable of the court painters specializing in chaekgeori was Yi Hyeong-nok. His abundant output can be found today both in Korea and abroad, where some of his works have been collected. He was himself chabi daeryeong hwawonBorn into a prominent family of court painters, a common situation at the time, Yi Hyeong-nok, while certainly required passing the examination, often provided a decisive advantage by belonging to an artistic lineage. On a folding screen housed in the National Folk Museum of Korea, Yi Hyeong-nok affixed his signature in the form of a reclining seal subtly integrated into the composition. This detail confirms his status as a court painter. For a long time, Yi Taek-gyun was believed to be a separate artist.

Yi Taek-Gyun. Ch'aekkŏri. Eight-panel screen. After 1871. ©The Cleveland Museum.

Yi Taek-Gyun. Ch'aekkŏri (detail of the seal).

However, examination of the seals found on works signed with this name has established that it was in fact Yi Hyeong-nok himself. Having changed his name twice during his lifetime, this information allows us to date the works bearing the name Yi Taek-gyun to after 1871. We can thus distinguish three periods in his career, the first of which is generally considered the most remarkable for its quality.

Jang Hanjong? (1768- after 1815). Shelf-style ch'aekkŏri. Late 18th century. Eight-panel screen. Colors on paper. ©Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, Yongin.

Examples of stacked ch'aekkŏri. Colors on paper. Early 20th century. Note the glasses placed on an open book. ©Japan Folk Art Museum.

Le chaekgeoriFar more than a simple representation of bookshelves filled with books, it constitutes a complex ensemble combining various objects with multiple symbolic meanings. Books, particularly Chinese classics, affirm social distinction and the prestige associated with knowledge. From the second half of the 18th century, some emissaries sent to Beijing were able to discover the capital city, which had developed under the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). Similar to the role played by encyclopedias in Enlightenment Europe, books were perceived as vehicles of new knowledge; these emissaries thus traveled to Beijing to acquire them, readily spending considerable sums.

Ch'aekkŏri. Six-panel screen. Colors on paper. 18th–19th century. © Musée Guimet.

Guimet's Ch'aekkŏri (detail). Note the glazed and crackled stoneware of the 'guan/ge' type in the Song style (960-1279).

In Beijing, scholars could also frequent antique shops and purchase reproductions of bronzes and archaic ceramics dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties, such as Xuande-style incense burners or Guan or Ge-style glazed and crackled stoneware ceramics, inspired by Song-period models. Although Korean ceramics were used at the time, they were not initially depicted in paintings. Painting thus became a substitute for reality: it replaced Chinese vases, too expensive to acquire, and represented an ideal scholar's collection. This accumulation of objects aimed to pique the viewer's curiosity and reflect the patron's refined taste by creating a fictional and exotic collection.

This logic also includes plant elements, such as fruits—for example, the pomegranate, a symbol of fertility due to its abundance of seeds—or flowers like peach or daffodil blossoms. Finally, some chaekgeori They incorporate European objects, evoking exoticism, such as an alarm clock or glasses placed on open books. chaekgado From the 18th century onwards, it thus became a veritable testing ground for the adoption of Western techniques, notably chiaroscuro and multi-point perspective. Visual illusion was deliberately sought through trompe-l'œil effects.

Despite the abolition of the court painters' competition and the subsequent diversification of Korean pictorial production, the chaekgeori continued to inspire artists, giving rise to compositions that were sometimes fantastic or surreal, where disparate objects accumulated and seemed to float in space.

Alix Frey, Estelle Jaubert and Tesnim Ettaghi.