본 연구는 18-20세기 왕실 문헌에 보이는 ‘왜장병풍(倭粧屛風)’의 용례를 정리하고 그 문화사적 의미를 논의하였다. 조선 전기의 문헌에는 왜장병풍이라는 용어가 보이지 않을 뿐만 아니라 조선 후기에도 이 용어는 왕실 혼례 관련 기록에만 등장한다. 이에 본 연구에서 필자는 먼저 왜장병풍을 언급하고 있는 왕실 문헌을 조사하여 왜장병풍이라는 용어의 사용 맥락과 문화사적 의미를 논하였다. 두 번째로 필자는 왜장병풍의 등장 배경을 밝히는 차원에서 일본이 조선 왕실에 보낸 병풍 예물의 성격을 검토하였다. 15세기부터 20세기 전반까지 일본은 조선 왕실에 250쌍 500좌 이상의 병풍을 보냈다. 조선 후기에 일본 병풍을 언급한 서유구(徐有榘, 1764-1845)의 기록에는 병풍의 기원이 일본에서 유래된 것으로 언급되어 있을 정도로 많은 일본 병풍이 조선으로 전해졌다. 이러한 현상은 다수의 일본 병풍이 조선에 유입되는 과정에서 병풍의 시원을 삽병(揷屛)이 아닌 접이식 병풍으로 이해한 데에서 온 오류라고 생각된다. 마지막으로 본 연구는 왕실 문헌에 보이는 병풍장(屛風匠), 회장장(繪粧匠), 배첩장(褙貼匠), 장황인(粧潢人)이라는 직역의 전문가들이 분화되는 현상을 분석함으로써 이것이 왜장병풍의 유행과 결부되어 있음을 논의하였다. 본 연구를 통해 조선 왕실에서 장엄(莊嚴)과 의구(儀具) 의 기능을 담당한 병풍의 역할이 구명되고 그 문화사적 의의가 밝혀질 것으로 기대한다.The folding screen has been one of the most representative formats in painting throughout East Asian art history. However, its historical development has shown their respective trajectories in China, Japan, and Korea, depending on its difference in materials, appearances and uses. Korea has more tended to produce portable folding screens decorated with paintings and calligraphy, which can be easily relocated and reassembled as an indoor ornamental article. During the first half of the Joseon dynasty, paintings were mounted in four different formats: 1. folding screens, 2. handscrolls, 3. hanging scrolls, and 4. albums. Among these, the format of folding screens increasingly dominated mountings of royal court paintings for rituals or interior decorations during the 18th and 19th centuries.
My study first pays attention to a phenomenon in which the terminology “Waejang folding screen” newly appeared among the royal protocols regarding the national wedding ceremony for royal family members since the 18th century. Waejang literally means “the Japanese mounting” or “mounted in the Japanese style” referring to hinge-connected screens, compared with “gakjang” which refers to isolated panel screens. It is commonly known that the Joseon court artisans already attained a level of technique high enough to produce hinge-connected panel screens before the 18th century. So why did the Joseon court begin to use the terminology “Waejang” for wedding ceremony folding screens only after the 18th century? To answer this question, this study examines a list of 250 pairs of Japanese folding screens sent to the Joseon court as diplomatic gifts by the Japanese government in order to see how these screens were understood by Joseon intellectuals, particularly regarding their origins, uses, and functions compared with their Korean counterparts. To get a fuller picture of the phenomenon, this study also consults the literature of scholars such as Seo Yugu (1764-1845) who compiled an encyclopedia with entries regarding folding screens.
In conclusion, this study argues that the Joseon court and elites had a common acknowledgement that Japanese screens were produced mostly for decorative purposes rather than for conveying historic or moral themes. As a result, some scholars such as Seo Yugu even misunderstood that the format of folding screens itself originated from Japan, not from China, as shown in Seo’s entry on them in his encyclopedia. To provide an auspicious wedding space for royal family members, court artisans created a dazzling stage with the eyecatching screens by appropriating “decorative” and “hinged-connected panels” from Japanese screens. This is what the late Joseon people called “Waejang folding screen,” the format that attached more weight to aesthetically useful “decorativeness” than to Confucian “edification.”