Qing decorated letter-paper originally came into Joseon in the personal possession of government envoys or among their officially listed items. In the mid-19th century, however, new forms of decorated letter-papers were produced for and sold to the anonymous general public in Qing and Joseon aphenomenon unprecedented at the time.
This was fundamentally due to changes in the production environment of decorated letterpaper in Qing and to distribution structures in both countries. In other words, it is presumed that Chinese stores similar to Joseon"s Jijeon(紙廛 ; a specialist paper retailer and one of Seoul’s government-controlled “Yuguijeon(Six Licensed Stores))” produced such paper for sale to the general public, and that these began entering Joseon in large quantities as seaborne trade between the two neighbors increased from 1883 onwards.
At the same time, the previously upper-class trend for collecting luxury items was spreading to the rest of the public. It appears that aspiring to a certain level of artistry by choosing works by painters of the popular Shanghai School as illustrations for letter-papers was related to this social climate. The inclusion of large numbers of popular Shanghai-based artists also signifies that the Shanghai School had gone beyond regional status and become one of the most popular groups of artists in China. This is proved by surviving letters written by figures such as Empress Myeongseong(明成皇后), Yi Ha-eung(李昰應), Yi Jae-myeon(李載冕), Gu Yun(顧澐), a scholar-artist of the Shanghai School, as well as by hongshijiandutie(中士簡牘帖), a collection of letters received by Joseon translator Oh Kyungsuk(吳慶錫) from Chinese literati.
One particularly notable aspect of Joseon artists such as Shin Myeong-yeon(申命衍), Nam Gye-woo(南啓宇) and Jang Seung-eop(張承業) in the modernization period was their introduction of new forms that combined auspicious symbolism and decoration, appealing to scholars the general public alike. The works of these artists show considerable iconographic similarities to the butterfly paintings, flower-and-bird paintings and reed-and-geese paintings found in Chinese decorated letter-paper, the iconography of which developed over long periods of time. It therefore appears that these new tendencies among Joseon artists are likely to have been influenced or inspired by those found on Chinese decorated letter-papers. The Chinese decorated letter-papers housed in the National Palace Museum of Korea therefore constitute important visual materials when it comes to understanding one aspect of Joseon artists in the modernization period, by whom few works survive today.
In conclusion, late-19th century Chinese decorated letter-papers increased under standing of the Shanghai School among Joseon painters in the modernization period, as well as enabling the creation of works that were in spired by certainicons but emphasized auspiciousness and decoration, inaccord ance with the tendencies of Joseon literati painters and professional artists. The letter-papers are therefore of significant artistic importance.