Korean royal folding screen to join Paris exhibit on Joseon bookshelf paintings

The Korea Heritage Service's National Palace Museum of Korea will loan a Joseon Dynasty folding screen to an exhibition at Paris's Guimet Museum, the museum announced. Known as a chaekgado byeongpung, the screen will feature in the Trompe-l oeil Knowledge, Korea (18th-20th Century) exhibit, which runs from January 4, 2027, at the French national museum of Asian art. The exhibition is part of the Guimet's year-long Una anea K-arrement Coree! program, which designates 2026 as Korea Year.

Chaekgado, or bookshelf painting, emerged in the late 18th century under King Jeongjo. It merged Western perspective techniques with traditional Joseon painting to illustrate bookshelves laden with tomes and scholarly items. This genre mirrored the Joseon royal court's appreciation for learning. The National Palace Museum's screen will be featured in the exhibition's first of four sections, which examines 18th-century Joseon's culture of knowledge and how Jeongjo, in 1791, commissioned a chaekgado.