Painting of the Sun, Moon, and Five Peaks on Four-panel Folding Screen

As the most representative theme of Joseon’s royal paintings, this screen symbolizes the king’s authority and dignity, meaning that the dynasty would last forever. This painting of the sun, moon, and five peaks was always set behind the king’s royal throne, eojwa, and was also the place for the ancestral tablet and the king’s portrait, eojin. There were diverse formats for painting the sun, moon and five peaks including a general screen type of four, six, or eight panels, a standing type that was placed on a separate pedestal, and the type painted on a pair of four sliding doors. The elements of the screen and the basic composition of the painting had the same patterns, but there were slight variations in details of the description and the location of the objects. Vivid colors such as blue, red, green, white, and black were used. The records of this painting were found in royal protocols regarding royal architecture such as Royal Protocol Recording the Construction of Injeongjeon Hall (1805), and Royal Protocol Recording the Construction of Junghwajeon Hall (1907).