Painting of Celebration for Crown Prince’s Recovery from Smallpox on Eight-panel Folding Screen

This painting depicts a ceremony held on the 28th of December, 1879, the 16th year of Emperor Gojong’s reign, to celebrate the crown prince’s (later Emperor Sunjong) recovery from smallpox, and is composed of eight panels. The first panel includes the preface written by chief gatekeeper and military officer Lee Sangdeok, and the eighth panel records the list of officers who prepared the ceremony. According to the preface and list, it can be presumed that this screen was produced at the suggestion of the military officers. From the second to seventh panels, two scenes from the ceremony arre depicted, across the three panels each. These two scenes were, however, not from the ceremony itself, but were painted using the icon of the Appointment Ceremony for the Crown Prince. The first three panels, from second to fourth, depict the scene of the appointment ceremony, while the other three panels, from fifth to seventh, depict the crowning of the prince by using the icon of the Folding Screen of the Crowning of Prince Munhyo (in the collection of the Museum of Seoul National University). The paintings of the court ceremony with the same theme and format as this folding screen are housed at Korea University Museum and National Museum of Korea, respectively.