A Study on the Symbolism of Auspicious Animal Sculptures Installed on Woldae(月臺) Stone Railing at the Geunjeongjeon(勤政殿) of Gyeongbokgung(景福宮) - Based on Twenty-eight Mansions -
There are stone sculptures diversely shaped in several parts of Gyeongbokgung. Geunjeongjeon is a place where the stone sculptures are intensively placed among the various palace buildings of Gyeongbokgung, and it is more important because it contains the phases of the age of the dynasty and the symbolism of governing philosophy. What can be seen in the structure of auspicious animal sculptures is based on the form of instinctive thought that the heavenly and human order systems are in an organic correspondence with each other, especially with regard to astronomical events such as Samwon‐Sasin‐12jisin‐28su. The parts that have been interpreted only in Sasin and 12jisin in the interpretations such as wild dogs, Gyoryong, camels, wolves, and apes were able to clarify the contents by revealing the form of 28su. In particular, as Beopsu‐Ssangbeopsu at the corner may be related to the guardian deity who governs water, called Yimun, Chimi, and Chimun, it is one of Bibo's ways to protect the palace that was vulnerable to fire. In addition, the shape of the existing 28su placed Dambi, but Ha‐Woldae at the Geunjeongjeon was assumed to have a camel statue and a planned arrangement of double meaning with the Bibo form of Pungsu Sasinsa, and it is also a feature of the arrangement of Woldae at the Geunjeongjeon. The actual composition of auspicious animals at the Nambogye of Geunjeongjeon was in the order of Haechi, wild dogs, horses and Jujak, and the contents of “Gyeongbokgung Construction Daily Record” were in the order of Haechi, horses, wild dogs, and Jujak. As to different composition layouts, based on the contents of the “Gyeongbok palace Construction Daily Record”, the composition of Samjae Cheonjiin (天地人) was interpreted differently from the conventional interpretation of the arrangement of Woldae. All of these forms are associated with defense systems in the four directions and have become animal representations of each direction. The auspicious animal statues placed on the railing of Geunjeongjeon Woldae can be seen as reflected in a single building with the three‐dimensional personality that includes Pungsu's Bibo personality with the symbolic meaning that reveals the centrality as Jeong‐Jeon, the nation's best politics let alone the ideological system of the ancient astronomical of the East called Men‐Heaven Unity.