본 논문은 숙종의 어제가 적힌 〈주운절함도〉의 내력 및 정치적 성격과 함의 고찰을 목표로 하였다. 1655년 冬至兼謝恩使 副使 李行進(1597~1665)은 중국 燕京에서 우연히 얻게된 〈주운절함도〉를 이듬해에 귀국하여 효종에게 진상하였다. 효종과 현종은 늘 좌우에 두고 때때로 살펴보았으며, 특히 숙종은 두 편의 어제를 지어 각별한 뜻을 내비치기도 했다. 영조는 숙종이 1709년 지은 「朱雲折檻圖贊」을 늘 欽誦하였으며, 이 어제를 화면 상단에 옮긴 숙종 어제 〈주운절함도〉를 귀감으로 삼았다. 1754년 영조가 자신의 周甲을 맞아 왕실 願堂인 강원도 고성 乾鳳寺의 御室閣에 봉안한 뒤 오랜 세월 전해졌으나, 훗날 한국전쟁 때 퇴각하는 북한군에 대한 UN군의 폭격으로 인해 건봉사와 함께 소실되었다. 이 작품은 13세기 남송 때 제작된 〈宋人折檻圖〉의 원형을 계승한 고사화로, 남송부터 청대까지 이어진 중국 절함도의 전통을 보여준다. 작품에 담긴 直諫과 納諫의 교훈적인 메시지뿐만 아니라 건물 벽면을 장식할 만한 큰 화폭, 정교하고 섬세한 인물과 경물 표현은 당시 적지 않은 관심을 불러일으켰을 것으로 짐작된다. 숙종은 일찍이 「舟水圖說」을 지어 治國에 있어서 임금은 직언을 받아들이고 자신의 허물을 듣기 좋아해야 한다고 언급하였다. 그러나 재위 46년 동안 끊임없이 발생한 災異의 사회적 문제와 다섯 차례 단행된 換局의 정치적 갈등 속에서 言路의 閉塞은 짙어져만 갔다. 유교적 자연관에 따라 재이는 하늘이 임금에게 보내는 天譴으로 임금의 성찰과 수덕을 강제하였고, 임금은 恐懼修省과 求言之敎로 재이를 극복하고자 했다. 다만 16세기 이후 붕당의 형성과 공론 정치로 인해 널리 직언을 구하는 하교에 따른 신하들의 應旨上疏가 黨論의 성격을 강하게 띠었던 까닭에 사실상 올바른 직언을 하는 신하는 매우 드물었다. 이처럼 재이와 정쟁의 함수 관계가 맞물린 시기에 언로는 경직되어만 갔고, 그에 따라 제한된 언로를 넓혀야 한다는 상소도 빈번히 올라왔다. 〈주운절함도〉에 대한 숙종의 어제시 2편은 그와 같은 배경에서 지어졌다. 그중 1709년의 어제는 주운절함의 역사적 사실을 거론하며 강직한 기상과 절의를 지닌 주운과 같은 直臣을 希求했던 숙종의 생각을 보여준다. 다시 말해, 숙종 어제 〈주운절함도〉는 표면적으로 신하의 직간과 군주의 납간을 상징하는 한편 그 이면에는 주운과 같은 직신의 출현과 등용을 통해 단절되고 폐색된 언로를 公道에 따라 올바르게 넓히고자 했던 정치적 성격과 함의가 담겨 있다.
This paper aims to explore the pedigree and political characteristics and implications of Zhu Yun’s Breaking the Balustrade (朱雲折檻圖) with a poem written by King Sukjong. In 1655, Lee Haengjin (1597~1665), one of the vice-envoys for expressing gratitude for imperial benevolence around the time of the winter solstice, happened to obtain a Zhu Yun’s Breaking the Balustrade in Yanjing, China. The following year, he returned home and offered it to King Hyojong. King Hyojong always kept it among his prized personal artifacts and viewed it from time to time, and the same went for King Hyeonjong. King Sukjong took a step further by composing two complementary poems about the painting that exhibited his genuine affection for it. In 1709, he wrote one of the poems, “Eulogy on Zhu Yun’s Breaking the Balustrade (朱雲折檻圖贊),” which covers the upper section of Zhu Yun’s Breaking the Balustrade in discussion. King Yeongjo always praised the poem and presented the painting as a good example of its kind. In 1754, he enshrined the painting in Eosilgak Shrine of Geonbongsa Temple, Goseong, Gangwon Province, in celebration for his sixtieth birthday. The painting remained there for a long time but was destroyed when the temple was burnt down during the United Nation Command (UNC) forces’ bombing of retreating North Korean troops during the Korean War. This artwork, a story painting that followed the original form of Breaking the Balustrade (宋人折檻圖) produced in the Southern Song dynasty in the 13th century, demonstrated the tradition of the Chinese painting of its kind which handed down from the Southern Song dynasty to the Qing dynasty. It would possibly have attracted fairly considerable attention at the time because of its edifying messages about direct admonition and open-minded acceptance, its huge size, enough to cover a wall of a room, and exquisite and fine depiction of figures and seasonal landscape within. King Sukjong mentioned in Painting with a Poem of a Boat and Water (舟水圖說) in his early days that the king should be open to direct admonitions and take to letting his faults be critiqued. However, the channel of communication between the officials and subjects and the king seemed increasingly destined to be blocked in the face of social issues caused by a continuous series of natural disasters and strange events during King Sukjong’s reign of 46 years, and the subsequent political turmoil which provoked five episodes of major political instability. King Sukjong attempted to overcome the aftermath of these natural disasters and strange events by improving and reflecting on himself in awe of nature and issuing edicts to seek advice from his officials and subjects. This approach was in line with the Confucian view of nature that regards natural disasters and strange events as divine retribution from heaven against the king and therefore compels him to better contemplate himself and cultivate his virtue. Still, very few of the officials and subjects actually gave honest and direct advice because most of their memoranda in response to the king’s request for an extensive and direct admonition had a strong tendency to stick to their party platform, as political factions were created from the 16th century and their members followed political currents based on public opinion. Combined with a functional relationship between natural disasters and strange events and the political turmoil, the channel of communication was losing its effect, and memoranda urging the expansion of such a limited channel were frequently submitted accordingly. Against this background, King Sukjong composed his two poems about Zhu Yun’s Breaking the Balustrade. Among them, the one written in 1709 refers to historical facts about Zhu Yun’s Breaking the Balustrade and reveals King Sukjong’s notion that he was in need of officials and subjects as upright as Zhu Yun, who had an unyielding spirit and strict fidelity. In other words, Zhu Yun’s Breaking the Balustrade, in combination with King Sukjong’s poem, ostensibly represents a direct admonition from a subject and an open-minded acceptance by the king yet conveys the political undertone that the interrupted and blocked channel of communication should be able to be properly expanded in a fair and right way through the appearance and appointment of upright officials and subjects, like Zhu Yun.