Page 256 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

commemorate the hunts, including those in which the emperor Extant Korean hunting screens virtually all date from the late
participated; such Chinese images likely played a key role as eighteenth century onward (though a few scroll paintings of the
pictorial sources for the hunting scenes painted in Korea late in the hunt date from earlier periods). It is widely held that Kim Hongdo
Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). (1745–c. 1806 or later) revived Korean interest in such paintings
and that most Korean paintings of the hunt derive from the few
Paintings of the hunt gained renewed popularity in eighteenth- hunting scenes that he painted. The earliest Joseon paintings of the
century Korea as prejudice against the culture of China’s Qing hunt likely were produced for members of the royal family and
dynasty declined and curiosity toward foreign customs and high-ranking court officials. Such paintings later became popular
ethnicities increased, thanks to diplomatic exchanges between among military officers as an emblem of martial spirit and military
China and Korea in the late Joseon era. In fact, despite Korea’s prowess. As hunting screens gained a broader audience in the
strained relationship with the Mongols during China’s Mongol nineteenth century, folk paintings on the theme were produced
Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), and occasionally with the Manchus in abundance for the masses. In fact, most early nineteenth-
during China’s Manchu Qing dynasty, Koreans maintained great century hunting screens exhibit such characteristics of folk art as
admiration for both the Mongols’ and the Manchus’ superb hunting naïve treatment of motifs, addition of auspicious symbols, and
and equestrian skills. spontaneous, sometimes whimsical, brushwork.