Special Tribute Offerings (Pyŏljinhŏn) during the Reign of King Sŏngjong and Chosŏn Crafts in the Fifteenth Century

This study reexamines the practice of Pyŏljinhŏn (special tribute offerings) carried out during the reign of King Sŏngjong at the request of the Ming imperial court, with the aim of reassessing the status of Chosŏn craft production in the fifteenth century from an art-historical perspective. Whereas previous scholarship has focused primarily on the political and diplomatic implications of Pyŏljinhŏn, this paper analyzes the tanja (itemized lists) recorded in the Annals of King Sŏngjong in order to reconstruct aspects of early Chosŏn craft culture that no longer survive today. The objects documented in these records represent the highest-quality royal crafts, embodying the advanced technical skills and refined aesthetic sensibilities of court artisans (kyŏnggongjang) of the period. Of particular note are the numerous ivory craft objects, which were produced despite ivory not being a native material of Chosŏn. Their presence attests both to the procurement of materials through international trade networks and to the highly developed processing techniques of Chosŏn artisans. In conclusion, the records of Pyŏljinhŏn provide concrete evidence of the high level of royal craft production in early Chosŏn and constitute a crucial source for understanding material culture exchange in fifteenth-century East Asia, including interactions between Chosŏn and Ming China.