Prince Anpyeong(1418~1453), His Character and Cultural Contributions

Abstract

Yi Yong (1418~1453), better known as Prince Anpyeong, lived a short life, spanning only thirty-five years: the third son of King Sejong the Great (r. 1418~1450) was born in 1418, the very year of the King’s accession to the throne, and lived until 1453 when his elder brother Prince Suyang put him to death. Master of the Three Perfections (of poetry, calligraphy, and painting), gifted musician and passionate art patron, Confucian scholar well versed in the Six Classics, and Buddhist authority on religious rituals and various affairs – Prince Anpyeong achieved the Unity of Learning and Art. The multifaceted identity of the royal prince further encompasses the identifications as a bibliophile who owned ten thousands books and also as a collector who brought together a massive volume of ancient Chinese paintings and calligraphies. It is readily conceivable that the huge collection played a pivotal role in nurturing the virtuosic artist An Gyeon (15th century). For the prince the cultural activities were not merely personal diversions: rather, he invited outstanding intellectuals and scholar-officials of Jiphyeon-jeon, the Hall of Worthies, including Seong Sammun, Pak Paengnyeon, Shin Sukju, and Yi Gae; and encouraged to cultivate themselves to the height of the Unity, seeking their cultural contributions. The entirety of the diverse acts and events, artistic and academic, was under the prince’s leadership and supervision. It was Prince Anpyong who made the most glorious contribution to cultural advances in full flourish during King Sejong’s reign. Unfortunately, however, Prince Anpyeong has not received much scholarly attention: it is within bounds to say that a recent tour de force that Sim Gyeongho published this year (2018), along with a couple of articles from the fields of literature and calligraphy, constitutes the whole literature on the historic figure. Aiming to set the course of research and its objective, I have taken the measure of the man above all; considered great service he rendered to a variety of artistic fronts (e.g. literature, calligraphy, painting, and gardening); and examined his academic contributions through the involvements with compilation projects and Buddhist affairs. This article takes a comprehensive and overall approach, and it awaits in-depth future studies that will proceed from the general to the particular.