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Busan Museum to Host Academic Symposium on the Gonyeo jeondo, Korea’s Oldest Hand-Colored Manuscript Edition

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Busan Museum, affiliated with the Busan Metropolitan City Museum, announced that it will host an academic symposium titled “Revisiting the Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World) in the Collection of Busan Museum” at 1:00 p.m. on July 11 in the auditorium of Busan Museum.

The symposium has been organized to shed new light on the academic significance and historical status of the museum’s hand-colored manuscript edition of the Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World), the oldest known example of its kind in Korea.

The Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World) in the Busan Museum collection is Korea’s oldest surviving hand-colored manuscript edition, meticulously copied and colored by hand on silk based on a woodblock edition published in Beijing, China, in 1674. It is regarded as an important resource that influenced the worldview of intellectuals during the late Joseon Dynasty. Because surviving hand-colored manuscript editions are extremely rare, the work possesses exceptional rarity and historical value. In recognition of its significance, it was designated as a Tangible Cultural Heritage of Busan Metropolitan City in 2012.

The Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World) is a woodblock-printed world map produced in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty in 1674 by the Belgian missionary Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–1688). Depicted as a double-hemisphere world map, it presents the Eastern and Western Hemispheres separately and includes explanatory texts on astronomy and physical geography, along with descriptions of the natural environment and customs of regions around the world.

The map is considered one of the Western-style world maps that greatly broadened the worldview of late Joseon intellectuals, to the extent that it was reprinted in Joseon in 1860.

This symposium is especially significant as it is the first academic event devoted exclusively to the Busan Museum’s Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World), offering a comprehensive examination of its historical and scholarly value.

The symposium will consist of four presentations followed by a panel discussion.

The first session will feature the following presentations:
“Global Perspectives in the Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World) from the Perspective of Western Cartography” by Jeong In-cheol (Pusan National University);
“A Comparative Study of the Woodblock Edition of the Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World) and the Busan Museum Collection” by Jeong Dae-young (Daegu National Museum);
“The Production and Transmission of Hand-Colored Manuscript Editions of the Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World) in the Late Joseon Dynasty” by Hwang Jeong-yeon (The Academy of Korean Studies); and
“A Study of the Calligraphy Used in the Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World)” by Jeong Je-gyu (Korea Heritage Service).

The second session will consist of a comprehensive panel discussion chaired by Jang Sang-hoon, Director General of the National Folk Museum of Korea, with the presenters and invited discussants engaging in an in-depth discussion on the historical significance and status of the Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World) in the Busan Museum collection.

The symposium is open to everyone free of charge. No advance registration is required, and participants may register on-site on the day of the event.

For more information, please visit the notices section of the Busan Museum website or contact the Research Team of Busan Museum at +82-51-610-7192.

Jeong Eun-woo, Director of Busan Museum, said, “This symposium will provide an important opportunity to academically verify and widely promote the outstanding value of the Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World) in our collection. We hope many citizens will attend to explore its historical significance and meaning together, and also take the opportunity to view the original Gonyeo jeondo (Kunyu quantu in Chinese, Complete Map of the World), which will be specially exhibited in the Fine Arts Gallery on the second floor of the museum to commemorate the symposium.”