Page 210 - 2021 March 16th Japanese and Korean Art, Christie's New York City

249 ANONYMOUS (16TH CENTURY)

Gathering of Government Officials

Calligraphy dated 1565
Hanging scroll; ink on silk
18º x 22 in. (46.4 x 55.9 cm.)
With wood box inscribed and signed Soshin ki
(Togari Soshin'an; 1893-1944)

$30,000-40,000

PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Japan

The subject of this rare painting, recently discovered in
a Japanese collection, is a gathering of six officials in
an idyllic setting on a bluff overlooking a lake or a large
river. The painting is in the style of An Gyeon (active ca.
1440-70), but differs from others of the period in that it
has fewer landscape elements. One painting attributed
to An Gyeon School in the collection of the National
Museum of Korea, Seoul, that represents gathering of
officials at the Board of Defense, is visually similar to this
one, and the date of 1541 indicate that such gatherings
and associated paintings were well established by the
first half of the sixteenth century (accession number,
Sinsu 13555) (fig. 1). The title and list of attendees might
have been cropped.

Anonymous, Gathering of Officials at the Board of Defense. Korea, Joseon Dynasty, 16th
century. National Museum of Korea, Sinsu 13555