September 2026
Meritorious Men and Virtuous Women: Five Important Eighteenth-Century Korean Paintings
September 28−October 9, 2026 (closed October 3−4)
11 AM to 5 PM or by appointment
17 East 76th Street, 3rd Floor,
New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212-794-1522
Email: info@izzardasianart.com
I am known as a Japanese print and painting specialist, but I have been involved with Korean Art for most of my career. I have admired Korean figure painting from afar for many years, although I have handled mostly Korean ceramics and painted screens. The subject of this exhibition, Meritorious Men and Virtuous Women: Five Important Eighteenth-Century Korean Paintings, is an unusual departure for me. Later Joseon dynasty figure paintings are both highly skilled and rare. The coincidental acquisition of two fine works, a single portrait of a member of the scholarly elite, and a set of four paintings of virtuous women, seemed the appropriate moment to document them and bring them together for the present exhibition.
A fully illustrated catalogue is available.
JANG SHIHEUNG
(張始興; 1714–after 1789) Four Paintings of Virtuous Women
(張始興; 1714–after 1789)
Four Paintings of Virtuous Women
Set of four hanging scrolls: ink, color, and gold pigment on silk; 1763
Each 29⅞ x 17⅛ in. (76 x 43.5 cm)
Three unsigned, one signed Bangho ja and dated 8/1763
Portrait of Yi Jeongbo at his Sixtieth Birthday Party
Korea, Joseon Dynasty (1392−1910)
Ink, color, and gold pigment on silk
Painting: 39½ x 21½ in. (100.3 x 54.6 cm)
Inscription signed by Yi Jeongsong (1692−1759), dated 1753, late Fall
Shown in three-quarter view, the seated subject of the portrait, Yi Jeongbo (1693–1766) was a respected scholar-official during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) who succeeded in rising to high levels of government despite an earlier political setback for opposing a reigning king’s policies. The commissioned portrait was painted by an unknown court painter on the occasion of Yi Jeongbo’s sixtieth birthday and inscribed by Yi Jongseong (1692–1759), a fellow scholar-official. Yi Jeongbo is dressed simply in a white robe with a red ribbon tied around his waist and a black tanggeon hat woven out of horsehair. The sitter’s long white beard and wrinkles speak to his advanced age and reflects the period attitudes toward portraiture of distinguished men, which valued verisimilitude to capture facial features that were exemplary of the individual’s character. While the simple palette of the painting suggests the subject’s modesty, this work is the only confirmed example of Joseon portraiture that uses gold pigment to color the iris of the eyes. The balance between subtlety and minute but nonetheless sumptuous detail evokes the fine balance between the scholarly ideal of humility and the celebratory occasion for this portrait.
