Ch'aekkŏri Paintings: A Korean Jigsaw Puzzle

Author(s): Kay E. Black and Edward W. Wagner

Source: Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 46 (1993), pp. 63-75
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press for the Asia Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111228 .
Accessed: 10/06/2014 20:10

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

University of Hawai'i Press and Asia Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Archives of Asian Art.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Ch'aekk?ri Paintings: A Korean Jigsaw Puzzle

Kay E. Black and Edward W. Wagner

Denver Art Museum Harvard University

V^h'aekk?ri are Koreanstill life paintings that were used paraphernalia such as books, bronzes, flower arrange
for interior on
often bowls of and miniature
decoration, folding screens, during ments, fruit, landscapes, which
the latter part of the Chos?n The were considered for a Confucian
period (1392-19io).1 appropriate belongings
of the word ch'aekk?ri is not clear, but it has been scholar's study of the Invariably included are
genesis period.
in general use for some time. Ch}aek is the Korean pro "The Four Friends of the Scholar"?paper, ink, brush,
nunciation for the Chinese character meaning "book." and ink stone. All these objects are drawn from secular
K?ri is a bound Korean word having the nuance of "the sources but some carry religious connotations
" by their
makings of, material for. The combined word is a tech association with Buddhism and Taoism. Many of the
nical fine-arts term defined as "a painting of books and bronze vessels depicted are those which were specifically
appurtenances," or, more simply, "books and things."2 associated with the Confucian ancestor worship ritual
There has been the long-held belief that all ch'aekk?ri during the Chos?n period.
was folk artists. We Three distinct types of ch'aekk?ri screen
painting produced by anonymous painting have
in the course of our
have discovered otherwise, by studying four ch'aekk?ri emerged study, and have been labeled
paintings and determining who painted them. These "isolated," "table," and "trompe l'oeil." All three types
four paintings were the first ones found to bear the artist's share a common theme, Chinese in derivation, and a
own seal. However, one of the two different names on common screen format. Ch'aekk?ri of the isolated vari
these seals was that of a known, but obscure, painter, ety (Figs, i and 2) show the subject matter strewn some
while the other name was entirely unattested. This article what randomly in vertical columns on each panel of
a
tells the story of how we did our detective work and screen. The integrity of a panel does not
depend
on its
what enabled us to put in place some of the pieces in the adjacent panels, but each stands as an isolated composi
"ch'aekk?ri jigsaw puzzle," focusing on an tion. The scholarly paraphernalia, such as books, and
unpublished
painting in the collection of Columbia University. "The Four Friends of the Scholar" depicted singly and
The sources for our study were the paintings them in small groups, appear as objects floating in space on the
selves, Korean genealogies of the so-called "middle panels of the screen without visible means of support or
people" (chungin), other lineage documents, and lists of coherent ordering. Pictorial effect is achieved through
those who the various or "miscellane the use of color, differences in scale, some overlapping
passed chapkwa
ous" examinations, those taken preponderantly by of the objects, and by the empty spaces surrounding
members of the chungin class. Over 150 ch'aekk?ri them. The only Western influence visible in the isolated
examples have been discovered a 15-year search. type of ch'aekk?ri is that seen in the shading used to
during
seen on these un the contours of the objects portrayed.
Rarely exhibition, paintings have been model
covered inmuseum storage, private collections, auction The table type of ch'aekk?ri screen painting (Figs. 3
houses, and at art dealers in Korea, Japan, Europe, and and 4) provides by far the most numerous
examples for
the United States. Some have been published, usually study and is certainly the most in all its
complicated
the same ones over and over again. But subsequent inves aspects. Tables or other pieces of Korean furniture are
tigation of those published has shown that the accom in the theme. Different kinds of
always incorporated
panying textual information usually was either incom perspective, East Asian and European, are combined to
or create compositions of intermingled and integrated
plete misleading.
The paintings were executed inmineral and vegetable shapes on each panel. The resulting still life arrangements
colors bound with glue, sometimes with a touch of appear as unified architectonic constructions, to
owing
monochrome ink painted on silk or paper. The format their alignment and to the transitions from one plane to
was a six-,
eight-, or ten-panel folding screen. Because another. A greater range of subject matter, including
so many Chos?n screens have survived? such items as clothing, scientific apparatus, and specta
period folding
evidence that they comprised an
integral part of house cles is added to the objects that fill the table screens.
hold furnishings?one must accept that their household l'oeil ch'aekk?ri art
Trompe (Fig. 5) provide Korean
function dictated their multipaneled folding format. ists with the ideal way to exploit the Renaissance system
ch'aekk?ri show an of of linear perspective. The trompe l'oeil technique takes
Typical assemblage scholarly

63

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 i and 2. Han ch'aekk?ri screen, isolated ink and mineral on silk, each h.
Figs, ?ng-suk. Eight-panel variety, pigments panel (painting only)
w. cm. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Minn Seoul, Korea.
133.0, 54.5 Pyong Yoo, Photograph by Norman Sibley.

3 and 4. Anonymous, ca. 1830. Pair of ch'aekk?ri screens, table variety, ink and mineral on paper,
Figs. four-panel pigments paintings only,
H.70.5, w. 31.5 cm. United States private collection. Photograph by Lightworks.

ca. 1840.
Fig. 5. Yi ?ng-nok, Eight-panel
ch'aekk?ri screen, trompe l'oeil variety, ink
and mineral on paper, h. 1.63, l.
pigments
2.76 m. C. V. Starr East Asian Library,
Columbia University, New York City.
Photograph by Norman Sibley.

64

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 its name, by which it is known throughout theWestern
world, " from the French words meaning "trick of the
eye. Through the combined use of linear perspective
and a careful manipulation of color value on a two-di
mensional surface, a three-dimensional visual effect is
achieved. The pictorial creation of a folding screen that
looks like a bookcase full of scholarly treasures provides
the perfect geometric framework for the Korean artist's
application of the newly acquired system of artificial
perspective. A trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri creates an illu
sion. Thus make-believe bookcases are cre
pictorially
ated to serve as a display case for the make-believe trea
sures of the scholar in an overall across the
composition
many panels of a screen.
These ch'aekk?ri bookcase designs are possibly drawn
from Chos?n period examples used in book storage
rooms or are derived from a mix of period pieces of
furniture called t'akcha, which are shelves, often open
sided, for books and porcelain.3 Ingenious Korean artists
designed pictures of gigantic bookcases, all joined hori Fig. 6. a, Seal of Yi ?ng-nok found on Columbia University
screen (Fig. 5), photograph by Norman Sibley; b, seal of Yi ?ng
zontally to achieve the symmetrical or balanced con
nok found on National Museum of Korea screen
(Fig. 9); c, seal
struction that they envisioned. The artists mixed and of Yi Hy?ng-nok found on Ho-Am Art Museum screen
(Fig. 7),
matched from the various styles of Korean display stands courtesy of Ho-Am Art Museum; D (left) seal of Yi Hy?ng-nok,
familiar to them in order to suit their respective tastes in (right) seal of "man of Wansan"; both seals found on Seoul Private
Collection screen the authors.
imaginary furniture for their paintings. Thus far no two (Fig. 8); photographs by

bookcases depicted in trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri screens

have been found to be identical. the highest shelf of the fifth panel from the left.Korean
Korean artists did a curious thing when they produced artists traditionally inscribed their signatures and/or im
on
trompe l'oeil still-life paintings folding screens. They pressed their seals upon their paintings as the Chinese
combined elements of both Western and East Asian per did. But the appearance of the actual artist's seal, not its
into one of screen, by revealing five sur on the seem to be an innovation
spective style imprint, painting would
faces of an interior space, in the Western style, and by limited in Korea to the ch'aekk?ri genre. Yi ?ng-noka is
using multiple vanishing points and isometric perspec the name of the artist found on the seal in the Columbia
tive to depict book stacks, in the East Asian tradition. In screen (Fig. 6a). Another trompe l'oeil style ch'aekk?ri
East Asian perspective there were multiple vantage or in the National Museum of Korea in Seoul, also bears his
station points, in contrast to the single one characteristic seal (Fig. 6b).6 Thus two ch'aekk?ri screens, both of the
of the European method. In painting trompe l'oeil same type, bear seals the artist as Yi ?ng
identifying
ch'aekk?ri, Korean artists were attracted to the nok.
pictorial
innovation of showing the five interior surfaces of a Seals are very important in East Asian culture. Confu
bookcase or curio-cabinet?floor,
ceiling, back, and sides cian scholars of the Chos?n period practiced calligraphy,
?in the Western manner instead of depicting only three wrote poetry, and carved seals
just as their Chinese coun
of its interior surfaces as was possible in the East Asian terparts had done for centuries. Amateur artists and pro
tradition (see Figs. 5 and io).4 Strangely enough, these fessional painters alike owned many personal seals, seals
ch'aekk?ri painters were the only Korean artists who carved with their real names, their "courtesy names,"
exploited the perspective system in this manner. their pen names, names of their studios, as well as other
This article will focus on four examples of trompe names or terms which
might them. Personal
identify
l'oeil ch'aekk?ri. The first of these was discovered hidden seals in a sense were status symbols, and from a legal
in a subterranean chamber at Columbia C. a vital function
University's point of view they clearly performed in
V. Starr East Asian Library in New York City (see Fig. the validation of documents. It is only natural, therefore,
The is a
5).5 painting superb example of the trompe l'oeil that Korean painters should "sign" their work by im
genre. One item of its subject matter is an artist's seal, printing upon it one of their personal seals. But this is
which makes a in one not the case with ch'aekk?ri l'oeil
possible significant breakthrough painters. Trompe
aspect of the study of ch'aekk?ri: the artist's name is ch'aekk?ri artists were into
innovative?they painted
revealed. The seal is displayed with its characters facing their works one or more seals, not which
imprints, by
the viewer, in the upright position on top of a seal box on they might be identified. Indeed, the ch'aekk?ri's theme

65

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 ca. i860. ch'aekk?ri l'oeil variety, ink and mineral on paper, h. l. 4.68 m.
Fig. 7. Yi Hy?ng-nok, Eight-panel screen, trompe pigments 1.40,
Ho-Am Art Museum, Korea. courtesy of Ho-Am Art Museum.
Yongin, Ky?nggi-do, Photograph

itself provides the perfect context for an artist to cleverly related, but the evidence was at first inconclusive. Since
reveal his name in this way.7 the second character of their given names was identical
The next major discovery was two more trompe l'oeil it was possible, even likely, that the two men
perhaps
ch'aekk?ri screens, very similar to those of Yi ?ng-nok, were brothers or cousins belonging to the same sub
but with a different name, Yi
Hy?ng-nok,b revealed on lineage. Unfortunately,
no record could be found of a
their seals. One was an eight-panel screen found at the painter named Yi ?ng-nok, the two trompe l'oeil
Ho-Am Art Museum near Seoul with a seal
bearing Yi ch'aekk?ri screens being his only known link to the
name as part of the subject painting world. On the other hand, Yi Hy?ng-nok is
Hy?ng-nok's again depicted
matter 7; see also The other was again an recorded in the standard reference works as a court
(Fig. Fig. 6c).8
eight-panel
screen (but missing two of what must have painter (hwaw?n) who was known for his bookshelf
been originally ten panels) in a private collection in Seoul, paintings, and who at some point changed his name
which has two seals carved in the same style script but from Hy?ng-nok to T'aek-kyun.du His birth date of
on differently shaped stones (Fig. 8).9 Yi Hy?ng-nok's 1808, his courtesy name (cha) Y?t'onge and his pen name
name is given on one, and the other reads "man of Wan (ho) Songsokf are also given.12 One recent source further
san,c" which identifies the place of origin of the lineage notes that theCh?nju Yi lineage towhich he belonged
of which Yi Hy?ng-nok was a member (see Figs. 6d, included six close kinsmen who also were court paint
left and right). then, four ch'aekk?ri screen ers.13 Additional information tells us that he reached the
Initially,
paintings were identified as the work of Yi Ung-nok and position of Chich'ung,8 an abbreviation for a high rank
Yi Hy?ng-nok. Subsequently two additional ch'aekk?ri ing position in the Office of Ministers-without-Portfolio
screens by Yi Hy?ng-nok became known; these were of (Chungch'uw?nh). This position carried Senior Second
the isolated type and in each the artist's seal was
depicted Rank, which apparently
was within the reach of quite a
as part of the of the au number of chungin painters.14 Finally, the piece of evi
subject matter.10 The discovery
thorship of these paintings by Yi ?ng-nok and Yi dence that securely ties the Yi Hy?ng-nok of record to
six altogether, invalidates the long-held be the Yi who one of our ch'aekk?ri
Hy?ng-nok, Hy?ng-nok painted
lief that all ch'aekk?ri were anonymously painted. How screens, the private collection example, is its second seal
ever, the discovery of these screens with seals gave rise him as a "man of Wansan," that is, of
identifying
to new problems in the ch'aekk?ri Ch?nju.
puzzle.
Since Yi ?ng-nok and Yi Hy?ng-nok (hereinafter One of the very few chungin genealogies known to
called simply Hy?ng-nok and?ng-nok) each painted at have been published was that of an important chungin
least two screens of the trompe l'oeil type, which were was fortuit
sublineage of the royal Ch?nju Yi clan. This
very similar in their formal aspects and which had seals ous indeed, because it is to this particular Ch?nju Yi
carved in the same style of ancient seal script, it is likely that Yi As can be seen
sublineage Hy?ng-nok belongs.
there was an important connection between the two in Chart 1, there were six successive father-to-son gener
men. Naturally itwas necessary to discover if they were ations of court painters in Yi Hy?ng-nok's direct line of

66

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 8. Yi Hy?ng-nok, ca. 1850.
Fig. Eight
panel (missing two) ch'aekk?ri screen,
trompe l'oeil variety, ink and mineral
on paper, h. 1.63, l. 3.20 m.
pigments
Seoul Private Collection. Photograph
by the authors.

Chart 1. Yi Hy?ng-nok's Ch?nju Yi Chungin Lineage

^?t YiWi 1696-1756

Hl.
S?ng-nin S?ng-bong
1718-1777 1739-1787
I
I
?P
Chong-han Chong-uk Chong-hy?n Chong-gtin Chong-gyu Chong-tin
1737-1800 1746-1832 1748-1803 1750-1827 1760-1793 1769-1784

?S Sfi 3dau. dau. sgp its 2 dau. 3 dau. #_g P dau. ?R P

Kang-min Ky?ng-min Yun-min Su-min Sun-min Su-min Sun-min
Hyo-min
1760-1799 1776-1794 1774-1841 (->^fi) 1783-1839 ?-? 1789-1831
(no children) (did not marry) (did not marry)
"H
dau. m. dau. m. dau. ?? p ?f* P 4 dau. dau.
T'aeng-nok ?i-rok
sonlS??P Kim Che-do 1807-1845 1822-1852
Paek ?n-bac f.WM P (did not marry)
Kim Hwa-jong

ftje/f?f?p dau. m dau. 3 dau.

Chae-gi / Chae-gy?ng/ ?gf?P Chae-ik
Ch'ang-ok Ky?ng-ok Paek Y?ng-bae 1828-?
1830-? 1844-?

I I Paek Chun-hwan

JS?p Explanatory Notes:

Tog-y?ng Tog-y?ng Relationships and dates are from the clan genealogy: Chonju Yi-ssi chokpo (;^'Jt| $ft jj?Ih), Seoul?:
1870-? (adopted 1858,7-40? ff., except that T?g-y?ng /I^k's year of birth is found inj^fcf?M Seoul:
1?M MM1?,
National History Compiliation Committee, 1972, p.32T. The genealogy, however, makes no mention
whatsoever of the artistic activities of those in the lineage who served as Court Painters (those marked
with a bold-face "P"), nor does it record a pen name for any of them. Identification as Court Painters
H? has been taken from sources recording chungin lineage data and from the chapkwa pangmok
(?E?4 $r ?), the rosters for the various "miscellaneous" government service examinations.

67

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 ca.
Fig. 9. Yi ?ng-nok, 1840. Ten-panel
ch'aekk?ri screen, trompe l'oeil variety, ink
and mineral pigments
on
hemp,
h. 1.53, l.
3.52 m. National Museum of Korea, Seoul.

from an early eighteenth-century as a system for screens

descent apex figure, suggested putting together other
and fifteen altogether in these six generations (not includ currently misaligned.
the husband of one of Yi Hy?ng-nok's sisters, the Columbia trompe l'oeil bookcase structure
ing ?ng-nok's
son of a second sister, and one of his sons-in-law)?a is found to be asymmetrical but balanced, unlike the one
concentration of professional on his National Museum screen in which the
truly remarkable painters. depicted
But where is Yi ?ng-nok? Whose "extra" son might he left side is a mirror image of the right (Fig. 9). The
have been? Is he already listed in the family genealogy, bottom half of the two center panels is comprised of four
but under another, changed name? Or, on the other compartments, with the left side an upside-down version
hand, was it possible that the four ch'aekk?ri screens of the right. The eye of the viewer is thus drawn to the
under study here were executed by one hand, not two? screen's central area. In his National Museum screen a
At the outset, a case could be made either way. Indeed bank of four shelves and repeated L-shaped sections
the four screens are very similar, but enough differences formed by parallel stepped-down lines depicted on both
exist between ?ng-nok 's and Hy?ng-nok's paintings to wings draw the eye away from the screen's center, so no
suggest either two different phases within the work of particular focus results. But in the bookcases of both
one artist, or two artists with perhaps a close working these screens there are complicated frontal planes because
name use of four tiers of shelves. By contrast,
relationship. With the then prevalent practice of of ?ng-nok's
changing, it was necessary to consider the possibility both of Hy?ng-nok's ch'aekk?ri have only three tiers of
that Hy?ng-nok and ?ng-nok were one and the same shelves throughout, resulting in simplified frontal planes.
person. To this end, a full stylistic analysis of the four Columbia screen and both of Hy?ng-nok's
?ng-nok's
had to be undertaken, in an attempt to find ch'aekk?ri have a central focus caused by the frontal
paintings
another way to determine whether or not and planes guiding the eye to the middle and by broad ex
?ng-nok
were in fact a single painter. panses of light color seen on the shelves and the ceilings
Hy?ng-nok
Because Columbia ch'aekk?ri had been of the central compartments. How ?ng-nok and
?ng-nok's
remounted in Japan as eight separate hanging scrolls, it Hy?ng-nok created the illusion of space is important,
was necessary to reassemble the paintings in the sequence and it is clear that in structure the bookshelves in both the
the artist probably in screen format Columbia and National Museum are more
originally planned paintings
before a between it and the other three than those in either of Hy?ng-nok's two com
comparison complex
ch'aekk?ri could be made. Since the National Museum positions.
screen, still in its original mounting, also bears the Yi In most respects all four screens are painted in accor
seal, and is symmetrical in composition, sym dance with trompe l'oeil conventions. The scholarly
?ng-nok
metry became a model for reconstruction. After ruling treasures depicted are life-size and are arranged in a book
out the
possibility that there were two panels missing, case of believable
proportions.15 The artists have suc
were ceeded in conveying the illusion of three dimensions
the panels placed in their probable order. The key by
to the proper ordering of the panels lay in depicting the shelves' recession into space. This effect has
determining
selecting the innermost panels, the ones having the most been created by the multiple vanishing points used
acute angles delineating the third dimension of the book throughout the screens' middle ground. Five vanishing
case. outward toward the the angles points are used in the Columbia painting where three
Proceeding wings,
acute. a would have sufficed In the other three
become less and less Since significant number of (Diagram 1).
the trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri studied have been re screens, all of which are much wider, an awareness of the
mounted in the wrong order, the above method is distortion problems caused by the extreme width of the

68

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 io. ch'aekk?ri screen, l'oeil experimental ink and mineral on paper, h. 1.28,
Fig. Anonymous. Eight-panel trompe variety, pigments
L. 4.48 m. Here, the artist's efforts to create an illusionistic bookcase have failed because he has painted instead of con
parallel orthogonals
vergent ones. In clinging to the East Asian tradition of isometric the artist has limited himself to the of only three
perspective portrayal
sides of each compartment of the bookcase because all the orthogonals recede in the same direction. Here an is perceived as an
orthogonal
acute it actually is a right angle, or a third plane, which runs to the vertical
apparent angle, when perpendicular and horizontal planes of the
bookcase shelves. The artist has tried to add a fourth side, in this instance a
ceiling, to each compartment
along the screen's top register. But
the lack of orthogonals at the top of the and the extension of the vertical to that create not the look of an inte
painting, supports point,
grated ceiling, but that of a strip pasted on as a solution. Ho-Am Art Museum, Yongin, Ky?nggi-do, Korea. Photograph by
Norman Sibley.

i. of the Columbia screen the five van

Diagram Perspective overlay University (Fig. 5), showing
ishing points used by Yi ?ng-nok. These are indicated by horizontal V-shaped lines. (The two
overlapping lines in the center represent one Dotted lines
V-shaped probably vanishing point.)
suggest the back floor lines of the book shelves wherever are obscured from the
they by objects
viewer. All are the authors.
diagrams by

bookcase and their shallow nature is demonstrated by came the shelves' contents would have been
oblique,
the creation of six or eight vanishing points (Diagrams the sides of the shelves themselves.
eclipsed by
2, 3, and 4). These are pulled outward from the center The evidence provided by the ch'aekk?ri paintings
and are distributed rather evenly throughout the ch'aek demonstrates that their artists did comprehend that the
k?ri's breadth. Otherwise, severe distortion would have vantage point was immutable, one of the cardinal rules
resulted at the screen's ends, and there would also have of linear perspective, but that nevertheless the shallow
been no shelf space visible on the end shelves for the ness of the bookcase and its extreme width in proportion
objects. Thus multiple vanishing points were necessary to height
required them to use multiple station points,
to keep the acute.16 Once these angles be hence multiple The widest ch'aekk?ri,
orthogonals vanishing points.

69

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 2. of the
Diagram Perspective overlay
National Museum of Korea screen
(Fig.
9) showing the six vanishing points used

by Yi ?ng-nok.

Diagram 3. Perspective overlay of the

Seoul Private Collection screen (Fig. 8)
showing five vanishing points used by
Yi Hy?ng-nok. A sixth vanishing
is to have existed on
point presumed
the missing two
panels.

Diagram 4. Perspective overlay of the

Ho-Am Art Museum screen
(Fig. 7)
showing eight vanishing points used

by Yi Hy?ng-nok.

over fifteen Ho-Am screen?has a skillful and dramatic. in both the Ho-Am
feet?Hy?ng-nok's By contrast,
horizontal "flow," and the objects seem to be arranged and private collector's the colors seem bland
paintings
inwaves across the
painting's surface. Various objects are and the forms flat. The images are
crisper and more
scattered along laterally, and piles of books are grouped plastic in the Columbia painting. For example, both the
in zones. The percentage of books to objects is greater peach and the flower arrangement attract the eye of the
here than in the other three ch'aekk?ri. When other ob spectator by the way in which they glow against their
jects are added they are to present one outline. muted The still life compositions in the
compacted backgrounds.
This has the effect of simplifying the whole. Columbia ch'aekk?ri are more tightly organized and less
In both the Columbia and National Museum screens mannered than those in the private collector's and the
the palettes are rich and the handling of color contrasts Ho-Am paintings. Here it is apparent that Ung-nok has

70

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 taken great care in his still life arrangements by overlap recording at the same time the names for his
?ng-nok,
the objects in his groupings to show recession, father, three sons, and two daughters' husbands with
ping
whereas the objects in the other three ch'aekk?ri are Chinese characters exactly identical to those used in Yi
Hy?ng-nok's Ch?nju Yi genealogy.19 And since the
aligned horizontally.
are certainly Yi the foreword to which is dated
The paintings connected by the subject Ch?nju genealogy,
matter in every one: the narcissus, peacock 1858, gives the birth date of Yi Hy?ng-nok's Hanyang
depicted
feathers in a bronze vase, tree-root brush holder, bronze Yu wife as 1805.6.18 but has no date of death, it is certain
incense burners and tools, club moss brush holder, mag that she was his first (if not only) wife and the mother of
nolia blossom vase and the same style ink the five children named identically in both genealogies.
specimen
stone. The same book cover patterns, including the There now can be no doubt that Yi Hy?ng-nok used,
are in was known as well under the name Yi
Seven Treasures pattern, used repeatedly each by, and painted
ch'aekk?ri. But there are differences here, too. For exam ?ng-nok. However, there is at present no way to be
details, such as book cover patterns, are certain about the of his use of
ple, ?ng-nok's absolutely chronology
emphasized and are delineated by the "iron wire" line, a these two names. Common sense suggests that
?ng-nok
show of calligraphic skill. In his Columbia a was the earlier of the two, the reasoning being that he
painting
blue brocade book cover with white roundels is cut off married young (marriages in nineteenth-century Korea
at the edge, just where the natural fold-under oc are known to have taken place when the groom, in par
point
curs. This kind of detail represents a very logical ap ticular, was very young, at times no more than ten or so;
seen in the Ho-Am and the in this connection itmay be noted that his oldest son was
proach, and differs from that
collector's works. A t'ao t'ieh mask, which is born in 18 3o) and that as a son-in-law of his wife's lineage
private
originally
seen on Chinese bronzes during the Anyang he was recorded as Yi ?ng-nok. One might speculate
period (ca. thirteenth century-ca. 1027 b.c.) of the further that the name his own lineage genealogy uses,
Shang dynasty, is found depicted on the waist of aCh'ing Hy?ng-nok, represents that name by which he was
an archaic bronze vase in the Colum known around the time the genealogy was being com
dynasty version of
bia painting.17 But if such a design does appear on either piled in the late 1850s, when he was close to fifty years
the Ho-Am or the the lines of age and presumably known in Seoul society
private collector's screens, widely
it are too abstract to be as such. as a The reason why his name was changed, and
depicting recognizable painter.
By comparison, the relative reduction of detail makes indeed subsequently changed again, to T'aek-kyun,
the Ho-Am trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri appear to represent probably lies in the area of popular superstitious beliefs,
a step further away from the real but this cannot be known.20 It is easily demonstrable,
object. This trend away
from realism can be seen in the shadows cast on the however, that such name changes occurred with great
interior sides of the bookcases in Hy?ng-nok's works, frequency, indeed with ever greater in
frequency,
which are unnatural and unconvincing in their depiction. nineteenth-century Korea.
Instead of shading the colors gradually, one to another, Be all this as itmay, we have concluded that the stylistic
there are firm lines of demarcation. This is also true to a differences perceptible in the screens with
?ng-nok's
lesser extent of the Columbia and National Museum seal and those with Hy?ng-nok's seal represent early and
screens, but here the shading is softer and, while the later phases within the work of the single painter who
shadow itself is unnatural, it ismore believable because hitherto has been known, artistically, only by the name
of the hazy effect. As has been shown above, everything Yi Hy?ng-nok. All four of Yi Hy?ng-nok's screens be
about the Ho-Am work is looser and more schematized, long to amiddle in trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri
phase paint
thus farther removed from the conventional trompe ing. Common to them are a large format, the symmet
l'oeil painting. Since the screens became wider and wider rical or balanced compositions of their shelving con
in relation to their height and the patterns of the frontal structions, and multiple vanishing points. The success of
planes became simpler, these two trends might suggest these paintings as trompe l'oeil works shows that Yi
that the four screens do represent one artist's stylistic Hy?ng-nok had considerable understanding of the
chronological development. even the time he the earlier Colum
technique by painted
The quandary persisted for before a pub
two years bia and National Museum screens, most likely in the
lished genealogy of the
chungin Hanyang Yu clan, latter years of the second quarter of the nineteenth cen
hitherto unavailable to us, turned up in Toronto, Canada tury. His and as an artist
development sophistication
(see Chart 2).18 In the course of utilizing this new resource perhaps
can best be seen in his
moving away from the
for other research
purposes, the mystery of Yi Ung realism of the Columbia to amore abstract ap
painting
nok's identity was at last solved. This genealogy, in re proach in the Ho-Am work.21 In light of the recent dis
cording Yi Hy?ng-nok's marriage to a of covery that Yi father Yi Yun-min (1774
daughter Hy?ng-nok's
Hanyang Yu Un-p'ung, wrote her husband's name asYi 1841) was also a painter of ch'aekk?ri, and that he was

71

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Chart 2.

The Recording of Yi Hy?ng-nok's Marriage in the Ch?nju Yi and Hanyang Yu Genealogies

Ch?nju Yi-ssi chokpo, 7-41b-42a:

Commander of [Yi]Yun-min son Hy?ng-nok married a Hanyang Yu-ssi f. (rank 2b Un-p'ung gf. Chun-gi ggf. Ik-ky?m
Ten Thousand mil. post)
?p mms ?? se mmms: it mm am a m& et]

Hanyang Yu-ssi sebo, 4-29b-31a:

Commander of [Yi]Yun-min son ?ng-nok [is the hus- Hanyang Yu dau. f. [rank2b Un-p'ung gf. Chun-gi ggf. Ik-ky?m
Ten Thousand band of a] title]

up mms m^ 0* # imm an* m mm m? m m& m st

Ch?nju Yi-ssi chokpo, 7-41b-42a:

[children of this marriage:] son Chae-gi son Chae-son son Chae-gy?ng dau. [m.] Paek Yong-bae dau. [m.] Pak Ht?ng-yun

Hanyang Yu-ssi sebo, 4-29b-31a:

[childrenof thismarriage:] son Yi Chae-gi sonYi Chae-s?n son Yi Chae-gyong dau. [m.] Paek Y?ng-bae dau. [m.] Pak H?ng-yun

is not the one found on the ch'aekk?ri screen seals, which is J||. Perhaps the best for this difference is to note that
This "?fng" character explanation
similar variation is found not in traditional Korean records and that, specifically, other cases of the switching of these two characters,
infrequently
which share at least one meaning in common, are known.

very good at it, the son's development is not surprising, and apparent connoisseur (Yu Chae-g?n devotes one of
because Hy?ng-nok had undoubtedly learned from his his ten chapters to mostly chungin painters and callig
father. raphers). And since Yi Yun-min's father Chong-hy?n
The following is recorded in the Ihyang ky?nmunnok (1748-1843) was also a court as were two of his
painter,
by Yu Chae-g?n (1793-1880): uncles and his grandfather (see Chart 1), it becomes quite
Painter Yi Yun-min name was possible that further research will push back the genesis
[1774-1841], courtesy Chaehwa,1
skilledat painting the various of the scholar's of trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri painting in Korea by another
appurtenances study,
and among the screens and paper sliding doors in upper-class houses
generation or more. To date, however, we lack evidence
are from his hand. In his time he was as no peer,
many praised having that any of Yi Yun-min's earlier forebears painted ch'aek
he was so His son also continued the family
outstanding. Hy?ng-nok k?ri of any type.
tradition, and he achieved an refined I had one of
extremely artistry.
and whenever I set
Extant paintings prove that Korean artists began ex
his multi-paneled "study screens" (munbangdoj),
see it [atfirst] had the with linear perspective in the middle of the
it up inmy [study] room, visitors who might perimenting
mistaken impression of books filling their cases full. But then, when a
sixteenth century in very limited way.23 But its use was
came close for a better look, they would smile. Such was the restricted to the foundation for a scholar's
they depicting
exquisite lifelikeness of his painting.22 or recession the of a
pavilion showing by narrowing path
Since Yi Yun-min must have begun painting before in the distance of a landscape, or using light and dark
the turn of the nineteenth century, it is not unreasonable shading to give a three-dimensional appearance to por
to suggest that trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri did exist inKorea traits. On the basis of what we now know, European
at least from the last quarter of the eighteenth century. perspective began to be used in earnest by Korean paint
Moreover, itwould have taken time for it to develop to ers during the latter half of the eighteenth century, which
the level of excellence described by a near contemporary means that Yi Yun-min and other trompe l'oeil ch'aek

72

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
k?ri artists werein the forefront of this movement. The the father's knee or within the walls of a lineage work
bookcase a framework most suitable shop.
provided geometric
for the application of artificial perspective. Information extracted from newly available chungin
As mentioned before, no two trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri lineage materials, clues found depicted in the paintings
alike in their bookcase constructions have thus far been themselves, and the tentatively con
stylistic chronology
discovered?a strong indication that each was conceived structed here have enabled us to identify to date six differ
as an itwould have ent ch'aekk?ri artists of this heretofore anonymous body
original composition. Conceptually,
been very difficult to split five vanishing points among of Korean painting. Since only two of these ch'aekk?ri
or mount are
eight panels, unless all the panels were hung, artists listed in any of the standard reference works,
ed, as one whole It is important to remember this must be considered a
painting. promising beginning.24
that trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri, unlike the isolated and table Clearly, however, we have as yet been able to complete
were as overall one corner of the ch'aekk?ri
kinds, painted compositions. Working just puzzle. More painters
backwards, we found it sufficiently difficult to get the of this genre will become known as other pen names
Columbia scrolls aligned in proper screen panel sequence on ch'aekk?ri are matched with the for
depicted panels
to suggest that Yi Hy?ng-nok would have found it al mal names of the artists. Ch'aekk?ri painting is impor
most to have the scrolls one at a time, tant to not only in its own as a
major genre,
impossible painted study, right
and still to have achieved a coherent system of artificial but also because each screen reveals information about
perspective for the whole. On the other hand, by using the culture and values of late traditional Korea. Interpret
a premounted screen or adjacent hanging scrolls, and ing the clues, the seals, and identifying the
deciphering
center van is
working outward from the and changing his objects and?most of all?the painters extremely
tage point twice in each direction, it would have been difficult, and it will be a long time before all the pieces
possible. A plausible explanation is that the screen format of the ch'aekk?ri jigsaw puzzle
can be
fully filled in.
dictated the method, unless he worked from a pattern,
woodblock or sketch, with a transferable
print, likely
grid plan. And if the latter was the case, why has not one
survived? To date, not a single preliminary drawing
or
other pattern for a trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri has been
found. The fact that the end panels of both the Columbia
and the National Museum's ch'aekk?ri are narrower than
Notes
the intervening ones (to allow for the screens' borders),
Gari K. Ledyard, Ju-hyung Rhi, and Elisabeth Blair MacDougall
corroborates their having been executed in a premounted have made substantial contributions to the research and writing of
format. this article. Their assistance is hereby gratefully acknowledged.
Yi Hy?ng-nok served as a good study model because i. Two sources to the traditional
use of screens in
attesting folding
his four trompe l'oeil ch'aekk?ri screens reveal different interior decoration are Crown
Hong Princess
(i 73 5-1815), Hanjoong
Thus we are able to trans. Bruce K. Grant and Kim Chin-man (New York: Larch
stages in one artist's development. Nok,
wood, 1980), p. 42, in which she describes her quarters as
build a stylistic chronology for the whole type based on
having
been "appointed with furniture, room curtains, screens ..."
folding
his paintings. Because his birth date is known and he trans. Richard
and Kim Man-jung, Kuunmong, Rutt and Kim Chong
must have lived to at least the age of 53 years,
styles and un, in Virtuous Women:
Three Classic Korean Novels (Seoul: Royal
dates could corroborate each other. But without a Asiatic Korea
Branch, 1979), p. 69: "Then he struck the
pivotal Society,
screen with a and called out. ... At once a came
artist, the obstacles standing in the way of a folding fly whisk girl
significant out from behind
"
the screen smiling all over her face.
stylistic analysis probably would have been insurmount
For use of ch'aekk?ri screens
specific mention of decorative in
able. see
nineteenth-century upper-class homes the quotation from Yu
We have noted that there are 15 court painters within in this article.
Chae-g?n
6 generations of the apex figure from whom Yi Hy?ng 2.
Han'guk yesul saj?n (Dictionary of the A?s of Korea), 2, Hariguk
nok descends, and that additional court painters are misul sajon (Dictionary ofKorean Fine Arts) (Seoul: Taehan Min'guk
found among the immediate marriage connections of Yi Yesulw?n, 1985), p. 535 has a short entry on ch'aekk?ri under the
alternant term ch'aekkado,k in which mention ismade of yet another
Hy?ng-nok's family. This alone strongly suggests that name
by which this genre is known,
munbangdo.j
there were family painting workshops during the Cho 3. Ye Yong-Hae, former Han'guk libo journalist and Korean folk
s?n period, and in fact there may well have been a tradi art expert, remembers a
large bookcase in his father's book storage
tion of trompe in Yi Hy?ng room. such huge bookcases were used for rather
l'oeil ch'aekk?ri painting Apparently storage
than for decorative purposes in sarangpang, where the t'akcha is
nok's family. Because similar heavy concentrations of
found (personal communication, 1990). For of t'akcha see
can be found in a number examples
professional painters of other the following references: Choi Sunu (Ch'oe Sun-u) and Park Young
it seems safe to assume that in these
chungin lineages, kyu (PakY?ng-gyu), Han'guk ?i mokch'il kagu (KoreanWood and
families the painting profession was learned at Lacquer Furniture) (Seoul: Kyungmi Publishing Company, Ltd.,
chungin

73

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 1981), pp. 17-37; Edward Reynolds Wright and Man Sill Pai, Korean (Seoul: Yesul Ch'unch'usa, 1978), p. 421; O Se-ch'ang, K?ny?k
and San Fran on Korean
Furniture: Elegance and Tradition (Tokyo, New York, S?hwajing (Materials Painters and Calligraphers) (Seoul:
cisco: Kodansha International Ltd., 1984), pp. 96, 97, 132; YiChong Hy?ptong Y?n'gusa, 1975 p. 235. [reprint]),
s?k,Mokch'il kagu (WoodandLacquerFurniture),Han'guk ?i mi (Aesthet 12. There remains some
question
as to Yi
Hy?ng-nok's pen name,
ics of Korea), vol. 24 (Seoul: Chungang News, 1985), p. 193, which is not in O In Kim
Daily Songs?k, given Se-ch'ang. Y?ng-yun
129-136. the same pen name, as well as the same birth year, is
pi. exactly assigned
4. For a lucid explication of the difference between Asian and West to the entry Yi that of the much
immediately following Hy?ng-nok,
ern see A Note on in more
perspective Benjamin March, Perspective widely known painter Yi Han-ch'?l.1
Chinese Painting, China Journal of Science and Arts 7 (2) (August 13. Han'guk misul sajon, p. 461. These family members were: Yi
2. Yun-minm and Yi Sun-min?
1927)169-72, fig. (father), Yi Su-min" (uncles), Yi T'aeng
5. This painting was brought to light by Professor Gari Ledyard nokp and Yi Ui-rokq (cousins), and Kim Che-dor (brother-in-law).
of the Department of East Asian and Cultures, Columbia 14. The most
Languages position perhaps commonly enjoyed by chungin
University, and we are
greatly indebted to Professor Ledyard for his painters was, in its abbreviated form, Tongji,s which was
Junior
assistance our are also to the C.
generous with project. We grateful Second Rank.
V. Starr East Asian Library of Columbia University for permitting 15. For discussions of these various attributes of trompe l'oeil
us to its ch'aekk?ri. in itsWestern manifestations, see Alfred Victor Frankenstein,
publish painting
6. This screen is published in Evelyn B. McCune, The Inner Art: The Reality ofAppearance: The Trompe l'oeilTradition inAmerican Paint
Korean Screens (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, and Seoul: Po ing (Greenwich, Conn.: New York Society, 1970),
Graphic
text makes no mention np.; and Milman, l'oeil Painting,
Chin Chai Co., Ltd., 1983), fig. 50, p. 53. The foreword, Trompe p. 14.
of the artist's seal visible in this paintng. We are indebted to Yi W?n 16. Here an is perceived as an apparent acute
orthogonal angle,
bok for his help in discovering this seal. whereas it actually is a right angle,
or a third
plane, which
runs

7. It is certainly not unusual inWestern l'oeil to to the vertical and horizontal of the bookcase
trompe painting perpendicular planes
find the signature of an artist hidden or concealed in the subject shelves depicted.
matter; see Miriam Milman, Trompe Voeil Fainting (New York: Skira 17. For more about this motif see Cleveland Museum of Art, The
andRizzoli, 1983), pp. 89, in, for examples. Both Giovanni Bellini Bulletin of theClevelandMuseum ofArt 77 (8) ( 1990) :286-291.
and Vittore 18. We are indebted to Mr. Mun-sik Yu of Toronto,
(ca. 1430-1516) Carpaccio (1460/65-ca. 1526) signed greatly
all their on cartellini. Louis (1761 Canada, for permitting his clan to be
nearly pictures Leopold Boilly genealogy photocopied.
1845) did a similar thing when he inscribed his name on a piece of 19. Ch?nju Yi-ssi chokpo*(Seoul?: 1858), 7-4ib (YiHy?ng-nok);
paper depicted
on a table top. In China, moreover, the practice of the original work is in the Kyujanggak collection at Seoul National
hiding a seal imprint harks back to the Sung period (960-1126), when University. Hanyang Yu-ssisebou (Seoul?: 1869), 4~29b (Yi Ung-nok);
artists' seals were first used on paintings and were sometimes no collection in which this genealogy can be found is known to us.
personal
concealed in a facet of a rock or the foliage of a tree. R. H. Van Gulick, 20. Yi is recorded, under that name, as a
Hy?ng-nok participant
Chinese Pictorial Art: As Viewed by theConnoisseur, SerieOrientale in the painting of an official
portrait of the reigning monarch, King
Roma 19 (i958):424. Ch?lchong, in 1861. Cho Son-mi, Han'guk ch'osanghwa y?n'gu (Por
8. This screen is published in Kim minhwa trait Painting inKorea) 1983), p. 181. No
Ho-y?n (ed.), Han'guk (Seoul: Y?lhwadang, paint
(KoreanFolk Painting) (Seoul: Ky?ngmi Munhwasa, 1977), pi. 148. ing signed
or sealed "Yi T'aek-kyun" is known to exist, and "Yi
9. This screen is published in Kim Choi-sun, Minhwa (Folk Paint Hy?ng-nok" is the name consistently used in attributions of paintings
?i mi 8 (Seoul: to him.
ing), Han'guk Chungang Daily News, 1978), pi. 164.
no mention in the painting. 21. A an abstract
Again is made of the artist's seal visible similar trend toward style has been observed in
it was in black in National com
Subsequently reproduced, and white, other painting genres of this period, together with the further
ment was not
Museum of Korea, Han'guk k?ndae hoehwa paengny?n (One Hundred that "[t]his predilection for subjective representation
Years ofKorean Painting [1850-1950]) (Seoul: Samhwa S?j?k, 1987), limited to the
yangban literati but spread as well to the
professional
"
p. 199, where it is captioned "Yi Hy?ng-nok's Folk Art Bookcase painters in government Ki-baik Lee, A New History ofKorea
employ.
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984), p. 260.
Painting."
10. One of these is in the Chos?n Fine Arts Museum in Pyong 22. Yu nok [and] Cho
Chae-g?n, Ihyang kyonmun H?i-ryong,
yang, North Korea. See Ch?sen Hakubutsukan (Chos?n Hosan oegi (Seoul: Asea Munhwasa, 1974), Ihyang ky?nmun nok ch.
Bijutsu
Misul Pangmulgwan) (comp.), Chosen BijutsuHakubutsukan (Tokyo: 8, p. 19 (sequential page 411).
Ch?sen Kah?sha, 1980), pi. 96. The other is in the National Museum 23. See, for example, National Museum of Korea, Gathering of
of Korea, in Seoul. We are to for his help Government dated to 1550 (catalogue number Sin 2234).
grateful Ch?ng Yang-mo Officials,
in discovering this screen. 24. Kim Y?ng-yun, p. 421, O Se-ch'ang, p. 235, and Han'guk
11. This name is noted in all the standard references; see, misul sajon, p. 461 for Yi Hy?ng-nok; Kim Y?ng-yun, pp. 471-472,
change
for Kim s?hwa inmy?ng sas? (A Bio and Han'guk misul sajon, pp. 436-437 for Yi To-yong.v
example, Y?ng-yun, Han'guk
graphical Dictionary of Korean Painters and Calligraphers), 3rd edition

74

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Chinese Characters

4L

k. -w^; r.#7^1
i. /%aa

? n.
fcjb
o.
5$ft

75

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.140 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:10:41 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions