| Title |
Royal Cushions During Royal Family Banquets |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5659/JAIK.2022.38.7.207 |
| Keywords |
조선; 왕실; 연향; 채화방석; 만화방석; 표피방석 |
| Abstract |
During the Joseon Dynasty, a banquet with sitting cushions was mainly held in the yard of the royal quarters in front of the royal palace. If
a leopard sitting cushion was used in the architectural space of a banquet, it indicated the highest rank in the royal seat during the Joseon
Dynasty, which continued until the Gojong period. The long leaning cushion did not appear in the banquet seats during the Jeongjo period,
but was used during the Sunjo period. The dragon-patterned sitting mat was used only for the king’s seat after the Sunjo period. This was
to establish the king’s political authority, subdividing the hierarchy based on the mat’s pattern. Banquets held during the Sunjo period used
the dragon-patterned sitting mat for the king, the floral sitting mat for Queen Sunwon, Crown Prince Hyomyeong, and the crown princess.
For the sitting cushion, Manhwa and leopard sitting cushions were placed. Eventually, the crown prince and princess’s sitting cushions were
replaced with leopard sitting cushions. The king’s throne had five levels of mats and Pyeoncha had five levels. The royal throne including
the crown prince consisted of five stages, and the Socha bowing seat, and Pyeoncha had three levels. The seat for alcohol offerings had two
stages; the arrangement of the sitting cushions indicated the rank of the seat for alcohol offering, the lowest was the crown prince’s seat.
The number of stages and mats were the highest during the Jeongjo period. A pattern of this complex stage appeared in the Sunjo period
and settled down after the Heonjong period. In the King’s hierarchy, there was the most, odd number of sitting cushions, and the status was
classified by the number of mats used. During a banquet, the sitting cushion was placed according to the seat status. An arrangement by
type, pattern, and color was used to distinguish the hierarchy of participants. The sitting cushion established the king’s political hierarchy and
more specifically stratified the level of its royal participants. Sitting cushions were used on the royal family seats and for participants in the
architectural space of a banquet. It was lastly planned in the banquet architectural space division, defining the differences in position
according to the status and subdividing the royal hierarchy for some increased. |