Duck, Heron, Four Gentlemen, Three Friends
Yang Gi-hun (Seuk-eun)
Asian Art
MEDIUM
Ten-panel folding screen: colors and gold on silk
DATES
late 19th century
DYNASTY
Joseon dynasty
DIMENSIONS
image, each panel: 48 13/16 × 12 5/8 in. (124 × 32 cm) (show scale)
MARKINGS
Sealed "Seuk-eun"
SIGNATURE
Signed "Yang Seuk-eun"
COLLECTIONS
Asian Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
L2022.2.7
CREDIT LINE
Lent by the Carroll Family Collection
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Screen consisting of ten discontinuous paintings of birds and plants, each accompanied by a poem in Chinese characters (to be translated). The paintings are on a purple silk ground and are rendered in gold paint.
From right to left, the panels represent:
Two geese and autumn grasses
Plum tree in bud
Heron or crane with autumn grasses
Chrysanthemums with ?
Lotus flowers and leaves with autumn grasses
? with full moon
Peony bush in full flower
Orchids
Bird perched on pine branches
Bamboo and rock
The plants represent the "Four Gentlemen" (plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum) and "Three Friends" (plum, bamboo, pine), common motifs in East Asian art. The birds are also symbolic, with the crane representing long life and the ducks (or geese) representing marital fidelty.
Paintings in metallic paint on dyed purple silk ground are very rare and were made only for the royal court.
The artist, Yang Ki-hun (Seuk-eun), was a scholar official from the CHunghwa Yang lineage in norther Korea, who served as Senior Third-Rank Secretary (the equivalent of Minister of Culture) at the P'unggyong Palace in Pyongyang, known as the Western Capital, and at the royal court in Seoul. He is said to have been a member of Min Young-ik's first Korean plenipotentiary mission to the United States in 1883.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Yang Gi-hun (Seuk-eun) (Korean, 1843 – 1919). Duck, Heron, Four Gentlemen, Three Friends, late 19th century. Ten-panel folding screen: colors and gold on silk, image, each panel: 48 13/16 × 12 5/8 in. (124 × 32 cm). Lent by the Carroll Family Collection, L2022.2.7 (Photo: Image courtesy of Joseph Carroll, L2022.2.7.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, L2022.2.7.jpg. Image courtesy of Joseph Carroll, 2022
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