2001.72: Orchids and Rocks

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2001.72

People

Yi Ha-ŭng (also known as Taewŏn’gun), Korean (1820 - 1898)

Title

Orchids and Rocks

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting, screen

Date

dated early autumn 1892

Places

Creation Place: East Asia, Korea

Period

Chosŏn dynasty, 1392-1910

Culture

Korean

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/173594

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Ten-panel folding screen; ink on silk; with signature reading "Sŏk-p’a ch’il-ship-sam-se no-in chak" [Done by the seventy three year old man Sŏk-p’a]; with seals of the artist reading "Taewŏnkun chang" and "Sŏkp’a" following the signature

Dimensions

paintings proper: H. 145.5 x W. 29 cm (57 5/16 x 11 7/16 in.)
screen mounting: H. 225 x W. 459.6 cm (88 9/16 x 180 15/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• Signed: artist's signature and seals

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

[Kang Collection, New York (2001)] sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2001.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Edition

#081

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art and David Berg, Esq., Bequest Fund

Accession Year

2001

Object Number

2001.72

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

A royal prince, Yi Ha-ŭng was the father of King Ko-chong (r. 1864-1906), the last king of the Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910). In addition to being an enlightened statesman, Yi was an accomplished painter and calligrapher who was unsurpassed in his mastery of orchid painting. Frequently depicted in literati paintings alongside rocks and boulders, the orchid appears graceful, elegant, and unaffected by its rough surroundings. The orchids and rocks in Yi's paintings typically enter the composition at dramatic angles and generally occupy only one corner or one side of a composition.

Korean folding screens often have six panels, like those painted in Japan; more characteristically, however, Korean screens boast eight, ten, or even twelve panels. In some cases, a Korean screen may feature a single, unified composition that spreads across all its panels; in other instances--such as this one--each panel is conceived as an individual painting. The ten separate paintings that compose this screen are grouped in four pairs, with an individual composition mounted on the first and last panels of the screen. Each of the four pairs in the middle can be read as a single composition or as two separate paintings. Such visual double entendres held a special allure for Korean literati artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This screen's large size and its royal authorship indicate that it was painted for one of the royal palaces.

Each painting bears a personal seal of the artist, rather than a seal with the artist's name or sobriquet. For example, the seal in the lower right corner of the ninth panel (second from the left) translates into the aphorism "The best time to view a flower is when it is half open." The other nine personal seal impressions vary from idiomatic phrases to humorous remarks on Daoism and Buddhism. In the very last panel at the far left, however, Yi Ha-ŭng signs and impresses two of his artist's seals to the painting, making the authorship of this important screen indisputable. His inscription translates as, "Done by the seventy-three-year-old old man Sŏk-p'a in the early autumn of 1892."

Publication History

• Kim Chŏng-suk, Hŭng-sŏn Tae-wŏn-kun: Yi Ha-ŭng ŭi Ye-sul se kye [Hŭng-sŏn Tae-wŏn-kun: The Art of Yi Ha-ŭng], Il-chi-sa (Seoul, Republic of Korea, 2004), pp. 226-229, fig. 61; p. 312, fig. 84 (detail); p. 453, no. 94; p. 487, no. 61

Exhibition History

• Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, and Bamboo: Botanical Motifs and Symbols in East Asian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 07/06/2002 - 01/05/2003
• 32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/07/2017 - 06/01/2018

Subjects and Contexts

• Collection Highlights
• Google Art Project

Verification Level