4 - The Banchado: A Visual Record of the Grand Visit to Hwaseong

Summary

UPON HIS RETURN from Hwaseong, Jeongjo compiled the Wonhaeng eulmyo jeongni uigwe (State Record on King Jeongjo’s Visit to the Tomb of Crown Prince Sado in 1795), which recorded the details of the visit along with the banchado, illustrations of the royal procession and major scenes of the royal event. For the production of the banchado, black and white woodcuts were made by famous court painters of the late Joseon Dynasty, such as Kim Deuk-sin, Yi In-mun, Jang Han-jong and Yi Myeong-gyu, under the direction of leading court artist Kim Hong-do. With the figures depicted in both an imposing and humorous way, the banchado illustration of the Wonhaeng uigwe is highly characteristic of eighteenth-century genre painting. It also conveys the splendour and the open, confident atmosphere of Jeongjo’s reign.

The procession included as many as 115 musicians, who played various instruments as they rode on horseback. Looking at the grand march of musicians, we seem almost to hear the powerful sound of their music. Also, the magnificent array of 238 flag-bearers and mounted court ladies wearing veils creates a great panorama, even when the accompanying soldiers are omitted in many parts of the illustrations.

The banchado illustration appearing in this book is a reproduction of the black and white woodcut from the Wonhaeng uigwe. This author painted colours on a print from the original woodcut, referring to the coloured banchado scroll (fifty feet [fifteen metres] long) from the Kyujanggak Archives of Seoul National University and the coloured banchado woodcut from the private collection of Kim Hak-su. Because the two illustrations were discoloured due to poor preservation, identifying the exact original colours was difficult. Also challenging was the task of faithfully replicating the original colours of the natural pigments with modern paints. This experience proves the truth of the claim that cultural assets can never be fully restored, but only recreated as closely as possible to the original.