Korean royal folding screen to join Paris exhibit on Joseon bookshelf paintings
A 10-panel "chaekgado," or bookshelf painting, folding screen from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) depicts stacked books and scholarly objects. Courtesy of Korea Heritage Service
The Korea Heritage Service's National Palace Museum of Korea will lend a folding screen from the royal court of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) to a special exhibition opening Wednesday at the Guimet Museum in Paris, the museum said.
The screen, known in Korean as a "chaekgado byeongpung," will appear in "Trompe-l'oeil Knowledge, Korea (18th-20th Century)" exhibition, running through Jan. 4, 2027, at the Guimet Museum, a French national museum devoted to Asian art. The show is part of the Guimet's yearlong Une annee K-arrement Coree! program marking 2026 as its Year of Korea.
Chaekgado, meaning bookshelf painting, is a genre that emerged in the late 18th century under King Jeongjo, blending Western-style perspective techniques with Joseon painting traditions to depict bookshelves stacked with volumes and scholarly objects. The genre reflected the Joseon royal court's reverence for learning. The National Palace Museum's screen will appear in the exhibition's first of four sections, which explores 18th-century Joseon's culture of knowledge and how Jeongjo, in 1791, installed a chaekgado screen behind his throne and encouraged the genre's production.
It is only the second time the screen has traveled abroad, following a 2017 exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, and its first appearance in Europe.
The loan follows an earlier collaboration this year. From March to July, the museum sent 26 royal artifacts, including a mother-of-pearl inlaid box and a white porcelain vessel with blue floral designs, to Guimet Museum's "K-Beauty" exhibition on the beauty culture of the Joseon royal court.
The National Palace Museum said it plans to continue lending artifacts to overseas institutions to introduce Korean heritage to international audiences.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.