Portrait of Kang Min-cheom

The Portrait of Kang Min-cheom depicts the Goryeo-period general Kang Min-cheom, and measures 61.3 cm wide by 80 cm high. Kang Min-cheom (963–1021) was a renowned general of the Goryeo period who passed the civil service examination under King Mokjong (r. 997–1009). In the third year of King Hyeonjong (1012), when the Eastern Jurchen invaded, he led an army as an anchalsa, or regional inspector, and repelled them, and in the ninth year of King Hyeonjong (1018), when the Khitan invaded, he rendered great service in defending against them. The portrait shows a half-length figure seated and facing left, wearing a bokdu, the hat worn by those who had passed the state examination, together with formal dress, and holding a hol, a ceremonial tablet. The tiger skin draped over the back of the chair is a feature typical of eighteenth-century portraiture. The painting was not made in the Goryeo period itself but is a faithful copy of the original, made by Bak Chun-bin in the twelfth year of King Jeongjo (1788). Although painted in the Joseon period, it is an important work that offers a glimpse of the form and mode of expression of Goryeo meritorious-subject portraits, at a time when portraits from the Goryeo period itself are extremely rare.

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Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물