File talk:Empress Sunjeong, 1909.jpg

  Isn't this Empress Sunmyeong, NOT Empress Sunjeong? Original photo from LOC here: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001705598/

The two pages have an identical photo if you look closely, one being just a better quality than the other. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dootdooty (talk • contribs) 08:27, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Empress Sunmyeong has no photo that I'm aware of, frustrating because she was my wife's great-great aunt.

~~ Profsnow (talk) 17:35, 11 November 2022 (UTC)

Additional questions on whether this is actually Empress Sunmyeong

I have taken the description in the Library of Congress website to be the truth (so much so I changed pics for multiple wikis and put in the file name request), but now even I am wondering if they're actually correct. There's 3 photos I'm comparing this to:

1. In this image, which was published in 李王家紀念写真帖 by 半島時論社 in 1919 (available here, see pg 7), the 李王妃殿下 at the time should be Empress Sunjeong, and indeed both the lady, clothing, and hairstyle look extremely similar to the lady that's been identified as Empress Sunmyeong by the LOC researcher back in 2005. This book has a short blurb about the histories of Emperors Gojong, Sunjong, and Crown Prince Yi Un, but unfortunately there's nothing about their empresses. This image seems to support that this lady is not Empress Sunmyeong but rather Empress Sunjeong.

2. There's this photo that's a part of the Willard D. Straight collection as a postcard dated to around 1904, which is the year of Empress Sunmyeong's death. This picture is exactly as the same as the Empress Sunmyeong.jpg in question, only mirrored. The file description from Cornell University states that the subject is Empress Sunjeong and lists two sources. According to one of them, Palaces of Seoul by Edward B. Adams, Empress Sunjeong entered the palace in 1906 aged 12, so if the 1904 date is right it couldn't be Sunjeong. But there are no pics of Empress Sunmyeong in the book I could find. There is the other source too, but haven't seen that yet. This image seems to support that this lady is not Sunmyeong but rather Sunjeong.

3. Finally there's this picture, which is the exact same practically and was originally uploaded by Profsnow above saying it's Empress Sunmyeong and from this dead site. I'm curious if the uploader there just took the LOC description. If Profsnow is right, then this might be Sunmyeong after all.

All to say, it's one of 3 things at this point: the LOC is wrong, Cornell's sources are wrong, or the Profsnow and the Daum user is wrong. Basically, I just sent a question to the LOC about this whole thing to see if they might be able to help do more research. So until then, idk what to do with the mess now

(added topic here after file renaming) Average Pennsylvanian (talk) 17:18, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

I heard back from the LOC Prints & Photographs staff and they came to a conclusion that the description on their website is wrong. The subject in the photograph is indeed Empress Sunjeong and that the description will change in a month. Per the reference librarian, the original photo is on a board with a label that states "Korea Empress 1909" and comes together with a photo of Emperor Sunjong which matches this one that's a part of the Willard D. Straight collection mentioned above (the photo of Prince Yi Un is not attached). The big piece of evidence that prompted the review and change is the breast star on her chest, which per the Korean Medals site is the Order of the Auspicious Phoenix. According to Korean Medals this was first awarded in October 1905, which is a year after Sunmyeong's death in 1904. The librarian also mentioned other evidence which points to this subject being Empress Sunjeong but didn't elaborate beyond that Average Pennsylvanian (talk) 12:09, 18 October 2024 (UTC)