Seolssibuin Gwonseon Gate

Basic information

Designation

Treasure No.728

Category

Books & Records

Era

조선시대

Designated year

1981

Location

전주시, 전북특별자치도— 전북 전주시 완산구 쑥고개로 249, 국립전주박물관 (효자동2가,국립전주박물관)

Coordinates

35.801247, 127.089804

This book, which contains writings and paintings intended to encourage good deeds, was produced by Lady Seol, the wife of Sin Mal-ju, a civil official who played an active role in state affairs throughout the reigns of Kings Danjong to Seongjong of the Joseon Dynasty. According to the text, when Lady Seol was staying in Sunchang, Jeollabuk-do with her husband, Sin Mal-ju, she wrote the prose with the aim of encouraging good deeds, and drew a picture of a temple in order to restore Gangcheonsa Temple at Gangcheonsan Mountain by raising donations from Buddhist believers. The book consists of fourteen pages of prose aimed at encouraging good deeds and two pages of colored pictures of a temple, as well as short texts designed to encourage good deeds that had been passed down among her descendants on the back of the book. In addition, the date ‘July, Seonghwa, 18th Year’ (1482, the 13th year of the reign of King Seongjong) and the seal ‘jeongbuin (legal wife) Seol’ are printed on the back of the book. As the book is the oldest extant example of a work written by a female author during the Joseon period, and was composed by a legal wife of a noble family according to the law of cause and effect, a fundamental concept of Buddhism, it is held to be a very valuable document.

Location