Hadong Unamyeongdang Hall Choe Ik-hyeon Portrait

The Hadong Unamyeongdang Hall Choe Ik-hyeon Portrait measures 154 cm wide and 101.5 cm high; it is a hanging scroll painted on hemp cloth made of three joined panels. According to the ink inscription at the top right of the painting, which reads 'Portrait of Master Myeonam Choe at Forty-Four,' it is a three-quarter left-facing portrait of Myeonam Choe Ik-hyeon [1833–1906] seated on a chair in official court dress, produced in 1878, the fifteenth year of Emperor Gojong, when he was 44 years old. It is said to have been enshrined at Unamyeongdang Hall since 1925, and was designated Gyeongsangnam-do Cultural Heritage Material No. 513 on 7 October 2010. The portrait is painted in colour on hemp cloth, made up of three panels joined as one mount. The subject's attire is an official blue robe with a round collar, fitted with a rank badge bearing a pair of cranes, and a black silk cap; he sits in a chair draped with leopard-skin decoration. The face is painted thickly with white lead pigment, and the lips are red. The outline of the face is evenly brown, and the facial wrinkles are rendered mainly through line drawing. For the eyes, the upper eyelid line was drawn in ink and the lower eyelid line in white lead, and within these the iris was depicted in light brown and the pupil in black. The eyelashes and eyebrows were drawn with a fine brush, and a slight wash was applied around the eyes and nostrils to give a three-dimensional effect. On the black silk cap, the upper and crown portions were emphasised with dark ink, while the lower part was rendered in light ink; the boundary where the topknot line meets the forehead was left uncoloured, a technique allowing the viewer to glimpse part of the forehead. The rank badge is a paired-crane badge showing a white crane and a yellow crane, depicting the crane motifs and a five-coloured cloud pattern; however, it lacks the fine, embroidery-like brushwork seen in rank badges of the late Joseon period. At the centre of the rhinoceros-horn belt worn at the waist, a peach motif is painted. The patterning on the blue robe was drawn independently of the flow of the drapery lines, decorated with a single cloud motif in fine dark-ink brushwork, and the cuffs of the inner garment visible beneath the robe, as well as the tassels hanging behind the sleeve, were also coloured in pale green. As in other examples from the late Joseon period, the background is a flower-patterned mat. The black silk cap, the chair and the shoes are painted in black ink tones, while pale green has been used on the face and official robe; this appears to be repainting carried out in the early 20th century. There are also areas where part of the pattern of the floor mat has been lost in the course of correcting and retouching the hem of the robe. The overall condition is relatively good, but there are areas of loss in parts of the lower section of the painting, through which the underlying sketch can be seen. Through the somewhat damaged and split lining, the painted lines are clearly visible, suggesting that a preparatory drawing for the portrait is contained within. Generally, the preparatory drawing is removed once a portrait is completed, but in the case of this portrait a preliminary sketch remains behind the main sheet, making it likely to serve as important material for research into the production of portraits.

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Where it is

Region

Jinju, Gyeongnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료