Page 436 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

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ANONYMOUS (16TH CENTURY, CIRCA 1531)
Gathering of Scholars at the National Library (Dokseodang)

Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk
35√ x 24¡ in. (91.1 x 61.9 cm.)
With deer antler scroll ends
$500,000-700,000

PROVENANCE:
Kanda Kiichiro (1897-1984)
LITERATURE:
Ahn, Hwi-Joon, Kokuho: Kankoku nanasen-nen bijutsu taikei (National
Treasure: Collection of Seven Thousand Years of Korean Art) (Tokyo:
Takeshobo, 1985), no. 47.

This hanging scroll commemorates a gathering of scholars at the Officials engaged in the practice of organizing gatherings and the
National Library (Dokseodang) that took place near the Han River commissioning commemorative painting since the Goryeo dynasty;
in 1531. One of the earliest known paintings of literati gatherings, however, few paintings from before the 16th century have survived.
a genre that thrived in the Joseon dynasty, this artwork reveals the Distinguished men in government positions often held such get-
early development of the painting of literati gathering thriving in togethers to promote comraderies while exchanging poems over
the Joseon dynasty, which reflects the influence of the style of An wine and appreciating works of art. The meetings took place on
Gyeon (active ca. 1440–1470), a prominent painter of the Joseon various occasions among diverse members, who were of the same
court. age, had passed the civil service exams in the same year, or worked
in the same government bureau. Honorable officials over seventy
In paintings of literati gatherings, the standard compositional scheme years of age who held the second rank of government position
assumes a tripartite configuration: the title reads in seal script had the Meetings off Elders (Kirohoe or Kiyeonghoe) under the
across the top, the meeting takes place in the middle, and the the auspices of the state. Literati gatherings were commemorated by
list of participants appears at the bottom. This painting portrays a visual records of the events, usually in the forms of painted hanging
gathering of twelve young and talented scholar-officials who have scrolls or albums. Multiple copies were usually made and distributed
taken a sabbatical leaves from their governmental duties in order among the participants as a keepsakes.
to sharpened scholarship at the national institute. Their names,
birthdates, the dates of qualification for the civil service examination, The earliest extant painting in this genre is Gathering of
year of leave at the Dokseodang, the ranks, and the government Government Officials from the Office of the Inspector-General
position are all recorded along the bottom, followed by the names (Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, 1488) but typical characteristics
and positions of their fathers. This documentation identifies the of Joseon gathering painting appear in the 16th century. In the
participants, which in turn provides clues as to the dates of the paintings of this period, the gathering is depicted in miniature
actual meeting and thee painting’s execution. The short lines and against a monumental landscape, a jovial atmosphere is suggested
textured strokes applied to the mountains, rocks, and hills, the spatial by the pots of wine that accompany the group. The monumentality
arrangement of pictorial elements, and the brushwork all show of the landscape outsized the staffage of the human figures, and
close affinities to the style of An Gyeon, a painter who created his therefore early paintings of scholarly gatherings appeared almost
monumental landscapes in the manner of the Northern Song painter identical to contemporaneous landscape paintings which featured
Guo Xi (active ca. 1020–1090). lyrical views of nature with colossal mountains and expansive waters
rendered in the style of An Gyeon.