Portrait of Heo Jeon

Heo Jeon (1797–1886) was a civil official of late Joseon, whose clan seat was Yangcheon, courtesy name Iro, and pen name Seongjae. He passed the sangsi examination in 1828, the 28th year of King Sunjo, and in 1835, the first year of King Heonjong, passed the special civil service examination (byeolsi munkwa) in the third rank at the age of thirty-nine, after which he became Byeolgam, an attendant official of Sungneung Royal Tomb. After serving as Jeonjeok, Jipyeong, and Jwarang of the Ministry of Personnel, he was sent out in 1847 as magistrate of Hampyeong, where he declared that he would not govern the people through penal law and accordingly abolished all instruments of punishment, teaching the people instead through the principles of filial piety, respect for elders, and communal harmony. He resigned, however, after a dispute with the provincial inspector. In 1850, after serving as Gyori, he was appointed Sujan, but was exiled to Maengsan for opposing the posthumous stripping of rank from Third Censor Jo Ha-mang (1682–1747), though he was pardoned before completing his term of exile. By order of King Cheoljong, he compiled a treatise on ritual, the Saui. His Saui was compiled through a careful examination of successive theories of ritual, grounded in the fresh scholarly spirit of the Silhak (Practical Learning) school of the Geungi region in late Joseon; departing from the earlier trend of ritual studies that had focused on annotating and supplementing Zhu Xi's Garye (Family Rites), it sought instead to emphasise validity and practicality in devising ritual regulations. In 1864, the first year of Emperor Gojong, he became Ubu-ryeong, and subsequently, as magistrate of Gimhae, lectured on the hyangyak, a set of community self-governance codes. He successively held the posts of Vice Minister of the Ministries of War, Punishments, and Personnel, Magistrate of Hanseong, Minister of War, Dongjisa of Seonggyungwan, Jisa of the royal lecture, and Jehak of Hongmungwan, and rose to Minister of Personnel. In 1886, the 23rd year of Emperor Gojong, at the age of ninety, he was raised to the rank of Sungnok daebu and appointed Pansa of Donnyeongbu. His collected writings survive as the Seongjaemunjip, and among his other works are the Jongyorok, which depicted the image of an ideal ruler, and the Cheolmyeongpyeon. Heo Jeon was innately intelligent and possessed a bold and magnanimous character. From childhood he continued his family's scholarly tradition, first reading the Hyogyeong, the Classic of Filial Piety, and later studied under Hwang Deok-gil (1750–1827), who praised him as someone who had "attained the true essence of our learning." Even after entering government service, Heo Jeon remained upright and unyielding in character, which the court found uncongenial, so that he was frequently posted to positions outside the capital. Wherever he served, he reformed local customs and achieved notable results, so much so that the inspector of the time, Jo Du-sun (1796–1870), remarked, "I had heard there was no girin [a mythical auspicious creature symbolising a person of great virtue] — but here, indeed, is a girin." On returning to the court, he lectured on the Sohak, the Elementary Learning, at the royal lecture, repeatedly urged the king to select men of virtue for office, and stressed that ritual propriety was the most essential foundation of governance. As a Namin scholar of the Giho region in the lineage running from Yi Ik (1681–1763) through An Jeong-bok (1712–1791) to Hwang Deok-gil, Heo Jeon became the foremost figure among the Confucian scholars of his day, standing as an equal in scholarship alongside Yu Chi-myeong (1777–1861), who carried on the Toegye school of Yeongnam. According to family tradition, the surviving portrait of Heo Jeon was painted during his lifetime by royal command. It was kept at the family home until, after the printing blocks for his collected writings were completed in 1891, and following the completion that same year of Yeotaekdang, a memorial hall built in Sancheong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do by later generations to honour Heo Jeon's achievements, the portrait was relocated there in 1916 when Mulsan Yeongdang, the shrine building enshrining the portrait within the memorial hall, was constructed. It was donated to the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum in 2008. In this portrait, Heo Jeon wears a black horsehair cap and a simui, a plain robe worn by Confucian scholars, and sits resolutely in a chair. In front of him stands a tall reading desk, on which rests the Juja daejeon, the Complete Works of Zhu Xi, in its cloth wrapping case, with one volume drawn out and opened on the desk. In portraits of the early and middle Joseon period, such accessories as royal tables or furnishings were not generally included. From the mid-eighteenth century onward, however, in certain portraits such as those of Yun Dong-seom, Im Mae, and Yi Ha-eung, not only books but also a variety of antique bronze objects came to be placed on tables beside the sitter, so as to convey his status and personal taste. The Portrait of Heo Jeon appears to have been produced in this same spirit. Looking at the details of the portrait, the important elements — the outline of the face and the facial features — are all delineated in line, and while the depiction of the features follows the general conventions of physiognomic portraiture, these are skilfully combined with the sitter's own individual character. The texture of the skin is built up through fine, successive hatching lines, rendering the high and low planes of the face with mature skill, while the drapery lines were first captured in outline, shaded once with grey ink to render the folds, and then reworked with darker grey lines. The portrait vividly reveals just how closely the painter observed Heo Jeon as he sat before him. This is especially true of the eyes: the lines of the upper and lower eyelids are by no means rigid, but supple. The pupils, too, are rendered in black, yet the iris is painted in a flesh-toned grey, showing the clouded whites characteristic of an elderly man's eyes. In the somewhat severe cast of the eyes, with the upper lid drooping over a hidden double fold, can be seen the formidable presence of the aged scholar who compiled a treatise on ritual regarded as the culmination of five hundred years of Joseon ritual studies, lectured on the hyangyak, and did much to promote Confucian custom. The Portrait of Heo Jeon exemplifies the typical form of portraits of Joseon civil officials shown in scholarly dress. It is also a work in which "jeonsin sajo" — transmitting the spirit through the likeness, the concept regarded as most essential in the theory of portraiture — is fully realised: not only Heo Jeon's physical likeness, but also his distinctive temperament and character and the dignified authority of an aged scholar, are all vividly embodied on the painted surface.

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Where it is

Region

Yongin, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물