The King of Flowers: Peonies in Korean Art, from Palace Screens to Your Nightstand
In Korea the peony has a title: the king of flowers. For centuries it stood for one wish above most others, bugwi (부귀), wealth and honor. You will find it on embroidered pillows, wedding chests and porcelain, and above all on folding screens taller than the people standing in front of them. A queen who read a painting The peony's best-known Korean story is about a painting. According to the Samguk Yusa , a 13th-century collection of histories and legends, Emperor Taizong of Tang sent Queen Seondeok of Silla peony seeds along with a picture of the flowers. The queen studied it and said the flowers would have no fragrance. When the seeds bloomed, she was proved right. Asked how she knew, she pointed out that the painting showed no butterflies. Many readers have taken the missing butterflies as a veiled jab at a ruler without a husband, and the queen's reply as a quiet win. (Real peonies, for the record, are often fragrant. The story is about reading a picture, not botany...