Large Ancestral Portrait of an Aristocratic Couple, Joseon Dynasty (Korea), 1750-1850, Mixed Media

Details

Description

Joseon Dynasty (Korea), ca. 1750-1850

Mineral pigments and ink on hanji (mulberry) paper, Confucian domestic ritual hanging.

A pair of … Read more Joseon Dynasty (Korea), ca. 1750-1850

Mineral pigments and ink on hanji (mulberry) paper, Confucian domestic ritual hanging.

A pair of dignitaries are depicted frontally, seated before a ritual offering table. The man wears a dark blue official robe (danryeong) and a black wide-brimmed hat, typical of a Confucian civil servant. He wears a rank insignia (hyungbae) with a crane on his chest, signifying a high administrative position.

The consort wears a red ceremonial robe and a headdress of golden flowers, reserved for the wife of a member of the yangban aristocracy.

Between them is an altar with incense burners and an offering vessel, on a platform covered with a symbolic lotus flower carpet, iconography associated with moral virtue and genealogical continuity within the ancestral Confucian rite.

Executed in black ink with the application of mineral pigments (azurite, malachite, and cinnabar) on mulberry hanji paper. Traces of the original mounting as a domestic hanging for jesa ceremonies (ancestor veneration).

The reverse shows chromatic transfers, old damp stains, and traditional reinforcements, indicative of prolonged ritual use and storage folded inside a family chest.

The morphology of the official hat, the type of rank insignia with a stylized crane, and the mineral palette correspond to aristocratic portraits from the mid-to-late Joseon Dynasty, prior to the opening of Korea to the West (1876).

The technical characteristics and the absence of European pictorial influence place the execution approximately between the mid-18th and early 19th centuries.

-Technique:
Charcoal ink
Natural mineral pigments
Animal glue as a binder
Hanji paper (mulberry fiber)
Format: domestic ritual hanging
-Condition:
Wear from ritual folding
Old traditional restorations
Small losses of polychromy
Stabilized damp stains
Surface abrasions
Pigment transfers on the reverse
Does not affect its authenticity; consistent with its ceremonial function.

This is not a decorative portrait but a Confucian domestic cult object.

These portraits served as a legal and spiritual representation of the ancestor during family funeral and commemorative ceremonies. They were only displayed on ritual dates and remained stored the rest of the year, which explains their folding.

Dimensions: 146 x 88 cm. This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
issues arising from misattribution See less