Four Paintings of Virtuous Women

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

a)    Young Woman Receiving Instruction from Older Woman 

Two women are depicted together here. To the right is an older woman with two gold pins in her hair in three-quarter view with a white jacket and blue skirt, and to the left is a woman shown in profile with one gold pin in her hair wearing a yellow jacket with purple trim and red skirt, which was customary for newly married women. The taller, older woman, most likely the mother-in-law, calmly looks down toward her daughter-in-law, who is smiling with her mouth slightly open as she smells a peony in her left hand, while her right hand holds on to the red silk strings of the norigae suspended from the ribbon closure on her mother-in-law’s white jacket. The older woman holds a long pipe in her left hand behind her back, while her right hand holds her gathered blue skirt and a paddle fan with a painting of white plum blossoms. Peony is traditionally embroidered on bridal gowns to express wishes for honor and wealth. The white plum blossoms on the fan convey ideals of perseverance, strength, and grace in the face of adversity: qualities to aspire to in life. 

b)    Young Mother in Front of Bookcase with Signed Fan

A woman depicted in three-quarter view to the viewer’s left is dressed in a green jacket and blue skirt customary for mothers with sons, with a bookcase behind her. Pensively, she gestures toward her neck with her right hand, while her left hand is tucked under the folds of her blue skirt. The bookcase has scholarly accoutrements, such as bound volumes of books, a paper box on a carved wooden stand, a tall seal with a lion finial, a blue-and-white porcelain cup in a red lacquered holder and a cylindrical wooden container with brushes, a foldable measure, and a paddle fan with a polychrome painting of white plum blossoms and bamboo inscribed (eighth month 1763, Bangho-ja) and sealed by the artist. With the exception of Cloud Dream of the Nine (Gu’unmong), a seventeenth-century Korean novel, the other volumes are Chinese texts ranging from the historic Record of the Three Kingdoms (Samgukji), Record of Filial Piety (Hyohaeng’rok), and two novels, Journey to the West (Seoyugi), and Water Margin (Suhoji). These books would have been appropriate for men of the elite yangban class, symbolizing the status of the woman’s husband and future ambitions for her son.

c)    Two Women Conversing with Notebook

Two women are standing next to each other, contemplating the blank pages of a lined notebook. Holding the open book in her left hand, the woman to the viewer’s left wears a pale blue skirt with white jacket, the muted colors of her dress and rounded jawline suggesting her maturity. She thoughtfully rests her right index finger on her lower lip. The woman to the viewer’s right is decked out in bright colors—a yellow jacket and blue skirt—indicative of her youth, grasping the collar of her jacket with her left hand while her right hand gathers the folds of her skirt. One of her purple shoes with red piping peaks out from the raised hem of her skirt, suggesting that they are outside. Both women are standing close enough that the top of their coiffed hairstyles touch as they lean in to look at the blank pages. Typically, upper class women in the late Joseon dynasty did not learn literary Chinese but would have learned Korean hangeul script. Perhaps they are about to compose something together, or they are examining the notebook of a young son. 

d)    Young Mother Holding Son in Front of a Peony-decorated Bookcase 

Standing in three-quarter view to the viewer’s right, a woman carries a young boy in her left arm. She sports a gold hairpin, white jacket, and blue skirt with a small, sheathed gold ornamental knife (jangdo), symbolizing fidelity and virtue, tucked under her right arm. Her infant son has short black hair and is wearing a long pale green jacket with white trousers and bright green shoes with red piping that matches the red silk tassel of his mother’s norigae. Both mother and son look content, as the mother walks away from an open two-tiered cabinet with doors that are sumptuously decorated with polychrome paintings of peonies, roses, plum blossoms, and chrysanthemum, all depicted in varying shades of pink. The upper set of doors are slightly open, revealing bound volumes of books and what looks like a small vermilion lacquered container. The auspicious matrimonial symbolism of peonies (honor and wealth) combined with the scholarly ideals exemplified by chrysanthemums (longevity and enduring dignity) and plum blossoms (virtue and integrity despite adversity)—the latter paired with roses (youth and friendship)—seemingly hints at the balance and cooperation between the younger and older generations.