Portrait of Sim Deuk-gyeong

Sim Deuk-gyeong (1673–1710) belonged to the Cheongsong clan; no detailed record of his life survives. The portrait shows him seated full-length in a seven-tenths left-facing view, wearing a dongpagwan cap and scholar's robes, seated in a chair. Across the top is written, in clerical script, "True Portrait of the Recluse Sim Jeongjae." In the upper right is a eulogy composed by Yi Seo (1662–1723) and transcribed by Yun Du-seo (1668–1715); the same eulogy by Yi Seo appears again in the upper left. An inscription in the lower right states that the work was made in November of 1710, the 36th year of King Sukjong's reign, four months after Sim's death, painted respectfully in mourning by Yun Du-seo of Haenam — confirming that Yun painted the portrait posthumously that November. The depiction of the face and clothing shows some exaggeration and stylisation, so the work combines the realistic descriptive character of true portraiture with elements of generic figure painting, which favours typified expression. This episode is recorded in Nam Tae-eung's Cheongjukhwasa (a history of painting): after his friend Sim Deuk-gyeong died, Yun Du-seo painted his portrait, and when Sim's family saw it they all wept. As a work by Yun Du-seo, a leading literati painter of the late Joseon period, it is of great significance and considerable pictorial quality. It measures 160.3 x 87.7 cm (height x width).

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Where it is

Region

Buk-gu, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Treasure · 보물