Folding Screen of Gyeonggi gamyeongdo (Gyeonggi-do Provincial Office)
Overview
This twelve-panel folding screen presents a real-view painting with a panoramic view of the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Office as its focal point. It also shows the scenery surrounding the Bansong-bang residential block outside Seodaemun Gate in the capital Hanyang, government-led events, and the daily lives of the people. In Gyeonggi-do Province, which literally refers to the area outside of the capital, officials of the senior second rank were often appointed as provincial governor to match the significance of the region closest to the capital. This compares to other provinces where officials of the junior second rank were appointed as governors. The Gyeonggi-do Provincial Office witnessed heavy traffic in people and products. With the ongoing commercial development in and after the eighteenth century, it transformed into a bustling city. This Folding Screen of the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Office reflects the social and economic changes taking place in the late Joseon period as commercial activity increased, and also the trends in the arts and culture of the time as genre painting gained popularity. In the middle of the first panel on the far right is a close-up view of Donuimun Gate. In the upper portion of the twelfth panel on the far left is Ansan Mountain. A wide array of natural and artificial elements is captured from a bird’s-eye perspective across the vast picture plane created from the first to the twelfth panel, giving a strong sense of distance. With the addition of the names of the principal geographic features, this painting combines the characteristics of both painterly maps and real-view landscape paintings. Besides the natural and urban landscapes, this work includes depictions of government-led events featuring figures from diverse social classes as well as scenes of everyday life and people earning their livelihoods. The procession of the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Governor that fills the main street is illustrated from the lower section of the third panel to the main gate of the provincial office in the middle section of the seventh panel. Groups of people practicing archery are gathered around the Yeonhyangdae Platform on the seventh panel and the military facility responsible for protecting Gyeonggi-do across the ninth to eleventh panels. Given the skillful depictions of these various subjects and the expressive techniques applied, it is highly likely that this folding screen was produced by court painters from the Dohwaseo (Royal Bureau of Painting) who displayed strong fundamental skills. It is also presumed to have been commissioned by a civil official closely associated with the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Office in the first half of the nineteenth century.


