@article{ART003378179},
author={Kang Hyejin},
title={The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-},
journal={The Research of the Korean Classic},
issn={1226-3850},
year={2026},
number={74},
pages={5-45}
TY - JOUR
AU - Kang Hyejin
TI - The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-
JO - The Research of the Korean Classic
PY - 2026
VL - null
IS - 74
PB - The Research Of The Korean Classic
SP - 5
EP - 45
SN - 1226-3850
AB - The embroidered Guunmongdo (Illustrations of The Cloud Dream of the Nine) folding screen in the collection of the Seoul Museum of Craft Art is a rare work that renders the novel Guunmong in embroidery. Given that embroidery was an art practiced by women, the embroidered Guunmongdo may represent a case of the re-creation of Guunmong in which women were involved. Accordingly, this study first examines records concerning the royal needlework bureau and the reception of folding screens, in order to establish the strong likelihood that women were involved in the circumstances of its production.
More significant, however, are the distinctive features of the embroidered Guunmongdo and their meaning. Chapter 3 finds that the particular delicacy characteristic of the embroidered Guunmongdo extends to a further feature: each female figure is granted an individualized form. This resonates with Yi Ulsan-daek's reading of Guunmong, and can thus be understood as reflecting the perspective of a female creative agent. Furthermore, through the scenes that foreground Jin Chae-bong, it can be argued that this attentiveness to female figures carries an expanded significance as ‘a gaze directed toward all that has been marginalized.’ Chapter 4 turns to the representation of space in the embroidered Guunmongdo. Buildings are depicted with unusual frequency in the work. In particular, the meticulous depiction of interior architectural spaces and the recurrent representation of walls and courtyards constitute the salient distinguishing features of the embroidered Guunmongdo. These appear to reflect a female concern with the domestic interior. What is important is that such features generate a three-dimensional sense of space. The courtyard in particular, precisely because it is empty, produces a sense of depth, thereby helping to draw the viewer across the boundary of the pictorial surface and into the world of the narrative. This bears affinity with Kristeva's concept of the chora, which reads the feminine within space, as well as with the Daoist notions of the “valley spirit” (goksin, 谷神) and the “mysterious female” (hyeonbin, 玄牝). Within this framework as well, a connection between the spatial representation of the embroidered Guunmongdo and the feminine could be drawn out.
KW - embroidered Guunmongdo folding screen;Guunmong;Guunmongdo;embroidered folding screen;the feminine;courtyard;space;chora;Daoism
DO -
UR -
ER -
Kang Hyejin. (2026). The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-. The Research of the Korean Classic, 74, 5-45.
Kang Hyejin. 2026, "The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-", The Research of the Korean Classic, no.74, pp.5-45.
Kang Hyejin "The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-" The Research of the Korean Classic 74 pp.5-45 (2026) : 5.
Kang Hyejin. The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-. 2026; 74 : 5-45.
Kang Hyejin. "The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-" The Research of the Korean Classic no.74(2026) : 5-45.
Kang Hyejin. The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-. The Research of the Korean Classic, 74, 5-45.
Kang Hyejin. The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-. The Research of the Korean Classic. 2026; 74 5-45.
Kang Hyejin. The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-. 2026; 74 : 5-45.
Kang Hyejin. "The Significance of the Female Figures and Spatial Representation in the Embroidered Guunmongdo Folding Screen -With a Focus on the Seoul Museum of Craft Art Copy-" The Research of the Korean Classic no.74(2026) : 5-45.
