Jangyanggongjeongtosijeonbuhodo Painting

This painting depicts the punitive campaign led by Yi Il (1538-1601), posthumously titled Jangyanggong, Military Commissioner (byeongmajeoldosa) of Hamgyeong-bukdo province in the mid-Joseon period, against the Sijeon village of the Jurchen people who had been raiding the Hamgyeong region. It follows the typical format of a gyechuk, a commemorative painting recording a shared undertaking, consisting of a title in seal script reading "Jangyanggong jeongto sijeonbu hodo", the painting itself, and a list of participants (jwamok). At the foot of the list is an inscription by Yi Jae-gwan, an eighth-generation descendant, dated to the intercalary summer of 1849, recording both the circumstances of the campaign against the Jurchen Sijeon village and of the painting's making. The title, painting and list are each marked off by red lines, and the list is also ruled with red guide lines. The list of participants records the commander-in-chief, Yi Il, Military Commissioner of Hamgyeong-bukdo, and under him the assistant commander Seo Deuk-un, the staff officer Yi Yong-sun, the official Sim Geuk-myeong, the medical officer Yi Hye-jeong, and seven further assistant commanders. This is followed by the names of 22 soldiers of the Left Guard, including the vanguard commander Yu Geuk-ryang, Assistant Regional Military Commander of Goryeongjin garrison, and 24 soldiers of the Right Guard, including the vanguard commander Yi Cheon, Assistant Defence Commander of Hamgyeong-bukdo. According to Yi Jae-gwan's inscription, the painting was originally commissioned by Yi Gyeon (1618-?), Naval Commander of Left Gyeongsang and grandson of Jangyanggong Yi Il, who wished to commemorate his grandfather's achievements for later generations; it was kept in the households of both the main descendant line and the collateral lines. As time passed only one copy survived, so in 1849 three new copies were made and kept by the family as before. Although the painting follows the typical gyechuk format, it is notable that it was not made to commemorate a shared association among the people listed, but was produced at the family level to honour an ancestor's achievements. Whether the Yi Jae-gwan who wrote the closing inscription is the same person as the late-Joseon court painter Yi Jae-gwan, pen name Sodang (1783-1837), requires further study. Regardless of the painter's identity, this is an outstanding work that vividly conveys the battle of the time: the bird's-eye view clearly shows the terrain around the Jurchen Sijeon village, and the government soldiers and the Jurchen fighters are shown in a variety of poses and movements. The mountains are outlined in ink with small dots scattered evenly across them, while the trees show traces of the Southern School style found in painting manuals. The colouring is a light wash mainly in red, yellow, brown and pale green. Although the Jangyanggong jeongto sijeonbu hodo follows the typical gyechuk format, it is rare in being made at a family level to honour an ancestor's achievements rather than as the record of a shared association, in taking a battle scene as its subject, and in having been commissioned by a military family; and because the circumstances of its later copying are clearly recorded within the work itself, it is recognised as valuable as a documentary painting and is also of outstanding artistic quality.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Nowon-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산