Artist:Yi Gye-ho (Hyu-ong)
Medium: Folding screen, ink on paper
Geograhical Locations:
Dates:early 17th century
Dimensions: Image only: 25 13/16 × 140 9/16 in. (65.5 × 357 cm) Overall, flat: 42 1/8 × 146 7/16 in. (107 × 372 cm)
Collections:
Accession Number: 2020.18.11
Image: CUR.2020.18.11_overall.jpg,
Catalogue Description: Eight-panel folding screen with a continuous composition of a looping and scrolling grape vine. The stem of the vine is rendered in dark black ink in long, wet strokes. Some of the grapes are also painted in dark black ink, offering a staccato counterpoint to the linearity of the vine. Leaves, tendrils, and some grapes are rendered in a lighter ink with a more sepia tone. The vine begins at the top left corner of the third panel from the left, loops around from below to fill the left-most panels, crosses over itself and then meanders up and down over the third, fourth, and fifth panels, getting thinner as it moves toward the right. On the sixth panel it loops over itself again, then curves up on the seventh panel to end pointing downward on the eighth. The artist's signature and seal appear on the second panel from the right. Yi Gye-ho (formerly transliterated Yi Kay-ho, pen name Hyu-ong) was a celebrated painter of grapes, a popular motif in Joseon-dynasty painting. If each century had its grape-vine expert, Yi Gye-ho served that role for the 17th century. Grapevines were popular for their connotations of abundance, prosperity, and repose. There is speculation that the lighter ink in this example may actually be grape juice. This is the only known example of Yi Gye-ho's work outside of Korea.