Royal seals: essence of Joseon ritual arts

By Chung Ah-young

The National Palace Museum of Korea has recently published a three-volume catalogue featuring a comprehensive collection of 3,361 “eobo,” or royal seals, and their accessories from the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).

The museum currently holds 316 seals from 34 kings and 48 queens and concubines, crown princes and princesses among the extant 323 seals, along with affiliated ornaments. The earliest seal was made in 1441 and the latest one in 1928.

“Eobo were symbolic stamps which were not actually used. They were created to celebrate royal rituals and appreciate a ruler’s achievements and granting a posthumous title to a king or queen. They retain the high values of royal craftsmanship as they are bundled with other relics,” Jung Gye-ok, an official of the museum, said.

Eobo were ritual seals as symbolic objects, unlike “guksae” or state seals, which were officially stamped for diplomatic documents and promulgations of national orders.

“The hand stamps are the cream of the crop which displays the essence of royal craftsmanship and the highest state of artistry,” she said.

Jung also noted that as the stamps were used in formalities or ceremonies, not practical purposes, they were sometimes recycled and remade from the old ones.

The book includes diverse images of the seals and their ornamental relics to help those who are interested in royal arts of textiles, metal and wooden crafts and wrapping culture.

The seals were originally stored at Jongmyo, a shrine dedicated to the memorial services for deceased kings and queens.

The seals were wrapped with silk cloth and then put in an inner case with some medicinal herbs to repel worms. Then they were covered again with a cloth wrapping and placed in an outer box and wrapped again with material.

The inner and outer cases are decorated with metal ornaments symbolizing dignity and nobility along with their locks, keys and pockets.

The outer boxes are made of nut pine trees and usually coated with shark skin and lacquered with black or red dyes.

The stamps were made of jade, silver or gold and shaped as a turtle or a dragon, which are the symbols of a king.

“This is an unprecedented collection of seals for royal families from a single dynasty. It is a very important tool to research Korean ritual culture at court,” Jung said.

Usually, textile relics used for the royal families are rare because the items were burned after the wearers passed away.

“So the cloths wrapping the stamps and their cases are very important when looking into Korean fabric weaving and dying techniques which were relatively unknown to modern researchers,” said Jung.

Also, the patterns which were embroidered on textiles which symbolized good fortune, longevity and nobility, are rarely found.

“We are seeking to register the collection of royal seals for the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage on the occasion of compiling the enormous relics,” she said.