The Grand Congratulaotry Ceremony to Celebrate the Fortieth Birthday of Queen Dowager Jo

This folding screen contains the scene of the fortieth birthday of Queen Dowager Jo (1808-1890) at the year 1847. King Heonjong (1827-1849), the son of the Queen Dowager, ordered a grand congratulatory ceremony to be held at Injeongjeon Hall, the throne hall of Changdeokgung Palace so as to commemorate his mother’s birthday. The civil and military officials flanked by rows of ceremonial guards were gathered in the courtyard of the Hall to extend their congratulations to the King who sent boxes containing a eulogy, a piece of parallel prose, and a gift of clothing to the Queen Dowager’s residential hall and promulgated a royal edict.

It is considered as a comprehensive and detailed artwork supposedly drawn by highly skilled painters in the Royal Bureau of Painting. On the first seven panels from the right, the panoramic scenes of the ceremony are remarkable at Injeongjeon Hall and its subsidiary buildings with the surrounding natural mountains and trees. The last panel on the left is inscribed the names and titles of guarding of nine officers from the General Headquarters of the Five Military Divisions in the Capital who participated in the event. Specifically, hundreds of figures adorned in various attires and striking differing poses are painstakingly portrayed, and the complex layout of building and walls are confidently drawn.