Korean kings, through poetry and prose, communicated state affairs to the public and private matters to friends and relatives. The subject matters spanned across personal thoughts and feelings about everyday life to prayer for ancestral rites, didactic instruction for posterity, and political convictions and policy objectives. All displayed the monarchs’ academic erudition and literary skills. Hence the royal writings are important historical sources elucidating academic, artistic and ideological aspects of their eras and culture of the royal household.

 

Kings also wrote down their thought about paintings, though not very frequently. This catalogue contains a selection of paintings bearing colophons written by kings of the Joseon Dynasty(1392-1910). The paintings, which include landscapes, figure paintings, portrait, and pictures of flowers and birds, possess indigenous value as prominent works of art carrying vestiges of royal patronage.

 

- Kings and Paintings
- Paintings as Representation of King’s Thoughts
- Memories about the Kings