Gathering of government officials
Not on view
Written by Jeong Sa-ryong (1491–1570), a distinguished poet, calligrapher, and official, the inscription identifies the depicted scene as a gathering of sixty-year-old men who joined the civil service around the same time. For this reason, it belongs to the Joseon painting genre known as gyehoedo. Mirroring Jeong’s vivid description of camaraderie, the get-together (lower right) is rendered with unusual detail, showing the colleagues with plentiful food and drink, cushions, books, writing implements, and many attendants.
As is typical of gyehoedo, though the gathering is the reason for the painting, the figures are diminutively placed within an ideal landscape. It is an image about not only social interaction but also communion with nature.
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