Mogeun Portrait

This is a portrait of Mogeun Yi Saek (1328–1396), a civil official of the late Goryeo period. In the first year of King Gongmin's reign (1352), Yi Saek submitted memorials proposing reforms to the tax system, plans for national defence, the promotion of education, the suppression of Buddhism, and other policies. In the first year of King Gongyang (1389), when Yi Seong-gye and his faction seized power through the Wihwado Retreat, in which Yi Seong-gye turned his troops back from Wihwado Island, Yi Saek was exiled to the Jangdan region. Yi Seong-gye later summoned him back to court, but Yi Saek declined, and the following year he died on his way to the Yeogang region. The painter is unknown, but the portrait bears a eulogy written by Gwon Geun, a great scholar of the early Joseon period, together with a note reading "the ninth month of the Yeongnak-gapsin year," indicating that the work dates from before the fourth year of King Taejong of Joseon (1404). It is said that a separate portrait once existed, showing him in the dress of a recluse after he withdrew from public life, but this no longer survives. There is also a tradition that this portrait was lost during the Imjin War, the Japanese invasion of Korea, and was later recovered by an envoy who had travelled to Japan.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Andong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산