본문 바로가기
  • Home

A Study of Baengnyeon-nok, Autobiographical Writing by Nangseongun Yi U

Hwang, Jung-yon 1

1국립문화재연구소

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper aims at investigating Nangseon-gun(朗善君) Yi U's(李俁, 1637~1693) autobiographical writing, Baengnyeon-nok(百年錄) dated 1692. As a grandson of King Seonjo(宣祖), he was favored by successive kings and organized several important royal publications. As a famous calligrapher he created many epitaphs and placards for the palace on the kings' behest. This book largely contains two parts: one is his daily life and the other one is his such expert activities publishing royal books and calligraphic works. According to Baengnyeon-nok, at the age of 25, 1661, he participated in publishing Yeollseong-eopil(列聖御筆), Album of Calligraphy by Successive Kings of the Joseon Dynasty, as woodblock prints for the first time. Since the middle age, he has governed all procedures to compile and print several kings' lyrics and proses as huge volumes called as Yeollseong-eoje(列聖御製) and genealogical books of the Joseon Dynasty(璿源錄). Those facts show that he was perceived as one of the main compilers in the royal court. Baengnyeon-nok contains Yi U's gathering of ink rubbings from ancient steles and epitaphs throughout the country and made Daedong Geumseok-seo(大東金石書), Collected Rubbings from Korean Steles, as seven volumes in 1668. To date, theses albums have been thought to be one of the influential ink rubbing collections because we can get useful information of various steles both extant and now lost. In conclusion, Yi U's autobiography, Baengnyeon-nok, will provide crucial information of loyal publications in the 17th century, Joseon.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.