Pavilion by the Lake

Samoje (literally, Studio of Three-Five) is the style name of a Joseon-period artist, probably a professional painter from the jungin (middle people) class. His given name and biography have not yet been determined, for a lack of documentation makes it difficult to confirm the identities of many Joseon painters, even those whose signatures or seals are known.

These two works may have been conceived as a pair of hanging scrolls. The compositions were likely adapted from popular Ming-dynasty (1368–1644) painting manuals imported from China, the most famous of which was the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. The style of the two pieces reflects the influence of "Southern School" literati painting, whose conceptual framework had been formalized by the Chinese artist Dong Qichang (1555–1636). This style of landscape painting became popular in Korea from the end of the seventeenth through the early nineteenth century and was freely adapted by painters of various artistic lineages. Samoje's paintings exhibit the relaxed brushwork and uncomplicated yet pleasing compositions typical of a group of late Joseon landscapes.