Master Songun Portrait of Yongchusa Temple, Hamyang

This is a portrait of Master Songun (1544–1610), an eminent monk of the mid-Joseon period. His courtesy name was Ihwan, his sobriquets were Samyeongdang, Songun and Jongbong, and he is also known as Master Samyeong. When the Imjin War broke out in 1592, the 25th year of King Seonjo's reign, he raised an army of monk-soldiers, went to Sunan, joined forces with Hyujeong, and fought actively in the war. In 1604, the 37th year of King Seonjo's reign, he was sent to Japan on royal orders as a peace envoy, where he achieved successful diplomatic results, and the following year he returned bringing back more than 3,000 compatriots who had been taken captive during the war. The portrait is painted in colour on silk, showing the subject seated full-length in a chair, turned to the left, with a footstool beneath his feet. His left hand holds a buljangja, a monk's ceremonial fly-whisk, resting over his shoulder, while his right hand lightly grips the armrest of the chair. The face is painted with yellowish-white pigment, and the outlines use fine ink lines. The hair is rendered with a light ink wash, over which fine ink and white lines are dotted. The monk's robe is a dark grey made by mixing indigo and ink, decorated over this with a cloud-and-jewel pattern (unbomun) in fine, pale ink lines. The clothing and chair are generally painted in light colours, allowing the underdrawing lines to show through. A patterned straw mat is placed on the floor to distinguish it from the background; the mat is depicted by applying white shell-powder pigment as a base and then drawing fine horizontal lines in pale brown or with a bamboo knife to render its texture. The background is filled with a cloud-and-jewel pattern in fine, pale ink lines over a malachite-green ground. Because this portrait resembles Master Muhak Portrait of Yongchusa Temple, Hamyang, made in 1781, the fifth year of King Jeongjo of Joseon, in its bodily proportions, colouring technique, line treatment, depiction of the ears, and handling of the patterned mat and background, it is presumed to have been made around the same time, or at least sometime after the eighteenth century. Master Songun Portrait of Yongchusa Temple, Hamyang, has academic value for the study of eighteenth-century portraits of eminent monks (josa yeongjeong).

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Where it is

Region

Hamyang, Gyeongnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료