Page 419 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

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YiAm Sin Cham
i6th century 1491-1554
DOG AND PUPPIES SEEKING PLUM FLOWERS

Korean mid-i$th century
hanging scroll; ink and color on paper Korean
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3
73 £42.2 (28 / 4 x i6 /s) handscroll; ink and color on silk
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two seals, one of the artist 43.9 x 210.5 (ly /* x 82 /s)
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National Museum of Korea, Seoul National Museum of Korea, Seoul
Under a leafy tree sits a mother dog suckling her The scholar-painter Sin Cham was renowned as a
puppies, appearing simultaneously contented and master of the "three perfections" (K: sum jol; C:
alert. Yi Am executed this painting using pri- san jue)—poetry, calligraphy, and painting. He
marily the "boneless" technique — as in the was particularly famous for his calligraphy in the
strong, gently curving tree trunk, the lush leaves Chinese cursive and clerical modes. After passing
filling the top part of the painting, and the sleek the standard literary examination (K: chinsa; C:
bodies of the dogs. He used outline strokes only to jin shi) for government service, Sin began his
describe the dogs' paws, the white puppy clinging official career in 1513. In 1519, however, the fac-
upside down to the mother dog to nurse, and, in tionalism that plagued Choson government even-
light ink, a dozen long grass blades. Apart from tuated in a great purge of high-ranking civil
this, the brush is apparent only in some dark servants; Sin Cham was banished to the hinter-
triangular dots texturing the ground beneath the lands and not reinstated until 1543. Thereafter
tree. The sensitive contrast between a light- he served as magistrate in several counties until
colored puppy dozing on its mother's back and his death.
two other pups, one dark and the other white, Sin is known for his ink renditions of orchids,
eagerly suckling below testifies to Yi's keen bamboo, and grapes, appropriate in medium and
observation of his subjects. subject matter alike to the Confucian scholar-offi-
Yi Am (i499-after 1545) was a great-grandson cial. Here he has painted a landscape with figures
of Prince Imyong, who was the fourth son of the inspired by a classical subject also dear to the
illustrious King Sejong (r. 1419—1450). His paint- hearts of scholar-officials, whose duties usually
ings, of animals, birds, insects, and flowers, are Only eight or nine paintings by Yi Am have confined them in cities. The gentleman seeking
imbued with a childlike innocence, and his dogs survived. They are mostly in Japanese collections plum flowers is Meng Haoran (689-740), a
and puppies are always shown as much-loved and lack signature or inscriptions. This work is Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty, who was
creatures inhabiting a tranquil private garden. A likewise unsigned and uninscribed, but it bears a admired by many men of letters in Korea. Meng,
red collar with a bright metal bell around the neck tripod-shaped relief seal reading Kumhon and a a friend of the famous Tang poet Wang Wei (699-
of the mother dog not only draws the viewer's square intaglio seal reading Chongjun, which is 759), is said to have refused high government
attention to her but also conveys Yi's own feeling Yi's style or courtesy name (K: cha; C: zi). office, preferring to live in "reclusion" (i.e., out
for her. K.P.K. of office) on Mt. Lumen. Each spring he is sup-

418 CIRCA 1492