Chungsugigong Portrait

This is a portrait of Yi Sang-gil (1556–1637), posthumously honoured as Lord Chungsuk, a civil official of the reign of King Injo of Joseon. Yi passed the civil service examination at the age of thirty and went on to serve as Minister of Remonstrance and Inspector-General, among other posts. During the Manchu invasion of 1637, the fifteenth year of King Injo's reign, he died a martyr's death defending the Jongmyo Shrine at Ganghwado Island against the invading Qing forces, and in 1657, the eighth year of King Hyojong, he was posthumously granted the title Lord Chungsuk. Painted in colour on silk, the portrait is life-size, measuring 93 cm wide and 186.5 cm high. It shows the subject full-length, seated in a chair, wearing a samo (an official's black hat) and a pale red danryeong (an official robe), with both hands drawn together in front of him and tucked into his sleeves. The artist rendered the lining of the outer robe just visible through the openings on either side of the official dress, and varied the slope of the two shoulders, giving the seated figure a very stable, settled posture. The work is typical of the mid-Joseon period, and it is particularly notable that, whereas most surviving Joseon portraits are copies made after the original, this is the oldest extant original portrait.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Nowon-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산