March 17 - June 21, 2009
Literati Essentials
Pictorial records of what may loosely be termed literary gatherings developed into a unique and vibrant genre within early Joseon paintings. These festive social occasions brought together men in office at various stages in their careers (and sometimes those in retirement), who were of the same age, or had passed the state entrance examination in the same year, or worked in the same government bureau. Typically, these gatherings were accompanied by visual records of the events, often in the form of painted hanging scrolls. A copy was usually made for each participant to take home as a keepsake, though some paintings appear to have been made as singular works.
Paintings depicting reunions of government officials current and retired, as well as gatherings of those who have just passed the entrance examination for civil or military service and about to embark on government careers, attest to the value placed on proper Neo-Confucian education and literary fluency as keys to social advancement in early Joseon society. Three distinguished examples of this genre are on display in the exhibition.
Alongside the scrolls are ceramics and lacquer ware which would have appealed to the refined tastes of the elite literati of the period, like the class of men who appear in the paintings.
See "Yangban: The Cultural Life of the Chosôn Literati" on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more.
Stationery Box with Decoration of Peony Scrolls, 15th century
Lacquer with mother-of-pearl inlay; 3 1/2 x 14 3/8 x 9 1/2 in. (9 x 36.5 x 24.1 cm)
Promised Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving (L.1992.62.3a, b)
Lacquer has a long history on the Korean peninsula, though surviving examples of lacquer with mother-of-pearl decoration date from the Goryeo dynasty and later. Objects from the early Joseon period expand on the earlier tradition of mother-of-pearl inlaid designs: one new trend, as evidenced in this stationery box as well as in a small box from the same time period, is the motif of a single floral scroll, often the peony, over the entire surface. Another compositional innovation, visible in the box shown here, is the use of slightly larger pieces of mother-of-pearl, sometimes combined with more areas of negative space. The elegantly stylized scrolls—which would have stored writing accoutrements and held pride of place in a scholar's study—are accented with ornate acanthus leaves, and the peonies are rendered both in bud and in blossom. Stylistically similar blossoms appear in the designs on buncheong ware, a distinctive group of ceramics developed between the late fourteenth and the late sixteenth centuries. This box exemplifies the superb and subtle craftsmanship of early Joseon lacquer, as well as the refined aesthetic of the elite scholar-gentlemen who would have used them.