Artist · 6 prints
Korean painter (unidentified) Prints
About Korean Painting of the Joseon Period
The Joseon dynasty ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910 and made Confucianism the philosophy of the state. Portraits were central to that culture: they honoured ancestors and were used in family rites. Court artists who specialised in portraiture painted the kings, portraits of distinguished officials were made to encourage loyalty, and commemorative portraits recorded the service of respected statesmen. By the 18th century, former officials often commissioned formal private portraits for family shrines.
Joseon portrait painters aimed at exact likeness, down to small scars on the face, within a standard format. Beside court painting grew minhwa, decorative folk painting made mostly by anonymous painters and popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its favourite subjects include tigers, dragons and carp, which stood for success, and households hung such pictures believing they brought luck and kept harm away. The painters of the works in this collection were not recorded.
Korean Joseon painting prints: reproductions of Korean paintings by unidentified artists of the Joseon period (1392–1910). The collection includes Portrait of Yun Dongseom (1710–1795), dated about 1790, Portrait of Cho Hyun-myeong, Tigress with Two Cubs, Dragon and Carp and Poet Fisherman.
This selection brings together two sides of Joseon painting: formal portraits of scholar-officials, and pictures of tigers, dragons and carp drawn from folk and decorative traditions. Poet Fisherman adds the scholar's ideal of a quiet life by the water.
The portraits suit studies, libraries and offices; the tiger and dragon pictures work in living rooms, entrance halls and children's rooms. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with low-glare acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
