King Jeongjo’s Royal Procession to Hwaseong
Also called: Eulmyo Royal Visit to Hwaseong
In 1795 King Jeongjo took his mother, Lady Hyegyeong, to Hwaseong — where his father Crown Prince Sado lay in Hyeollyungwon — for her sixtieth birthday. The whole journey was recorded in the Wonhaeng Eulmyo Jeongni Uigwe and painted on folding screens.
Kim Deuksin & al. 김득신 · Public domain · Source
From the 9th to the 16th of the intercalary second month of 1795 (the eulmyo year), Jeongjo escorted his mother, Lady Hyegyeong, to Hwaseong. The Han River was crossed on a pontoon bridge of boats, and her sixtieth-birthday banquet was held in Bongsudang hall of the Hwaseong detached palace. At Hwaseong the king held special civil and military examinations, gave a banquet for the elderly at Nangnamheon, watched a night exercise of the Jangyongyeong guard from Seojangdae, and handed out rice to the people.
The procession and its costs were recorded in detail in the Wonhaeng Eulmyo Jeongni Uigwe, printed with the metal type called Jeongnija. An eight-panel screen of the procession by court painters and a banchado scroll of the procession line also survive. Through the journey Jeongjo honoured his father and displayed royal authority centred on the new city of Hwaseong.
