Pair Large Korean Ancestral Portraits 18th/19 Century Joseon Dynasty

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A pair of large Korean antique 18th/19th century Official portraits of male and female (husband and wife), painted in mineral … Read more A pair of large Korean antique 18th/19th century Official portraits of male and female (husband and wife), painted in mineral colors and ink on hanji paper. The male/husband subject is wearing a prominent black hat known as a heungnip and a red robe adorned with a detailed embroidered hubae (rank badge) indicating their high official status. The female/wife seated wearing an elaborate headdress and a red robe featuring high rank badge with a phoenix or pheasant. Beautifully framed in black wood frames and cream colored silk boarder.

Antique Korean portraits are extremely scarce, and finding a pair of husband and wife is even rarer. This scarcity is rooted in the strict Confucian societal norms of the Joseon Dynasty, which highly restricted the portrayal of women and elevated male-centric ancestral worship. These paintings were not originally intended as everyday decorative art, but rather as spiritual anchors for domestic Confucian cult rituals (jesa). They were meant to be reverenced, not displayed, and were kept folded and stored away in family chests for generations. See less