From courtly refinement to popular imagination: the Korean folding screen with books (Ch'aekkŏri)

Conference at 18:00 p.m., by Okyang CHAE-DUPORGELecturer at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne.

Le Ch'aekkŏri (책거리), literally "bookshelf," is a unique pictorial genre that flourished in Korea at the end of the Joseon Dynasty (18th–19th centuries). Presented in the form of folding screens, it depicts carefully arranged books, porcelain, scholar's objects, and symbolic plants and fruits. A veritable "Korean cabinet of curiosities," drawing on both Chinese and Western influences, it primarily reflects the refined taste of the court and elites. yangbanfascinated by knowledge and the arts. But very quickly, this visual language crossed social boundaries. Adopted in working-class homes, the Ch'aekkŏri It appears in smaller, more colorful forms, often freed from rigid conventions. From an aristocratic motif, it becomes a mirror of the collective imagination, expressing simultaneously an aspiration for knowledge, a desire for prestige, and decorative pleasure. This presentation aims to explore the diversity of Ch'aekkŏri, between high art and popular culture, in order to understand how a simple book screen could embody the dreams of an entire society