Portrait of Gimwan

Basic information

Designation

Treasure No.1305

Category

Painting

Era

조선 인조(1630)

Designated year

2000

Location

영암군, 전라남도— 전라남도 영암군

Coordinates

No precise coordinates are available, so this item is not shown as a map marker. To be added later.

In this portrait, the subject is seated on a chair wearing an official robe and hat, with the hands clasped within the sleeves. The portrait is typical of an image of a government official in the mid-Joseon Period (1392-1910) in terms of the face turned slightly to the right, beautifully colored carpet, shoes, and footrest. The gold-edged belt and piece of embroidered cloth attached to the front and back displaying the image of haetae (mythical unicorn-lion) tells us that the subject is a Grade 2 official. Thus, the portrait was made in the 1630s when he was a military commander in Hwanghae-do, not right after he was designated as a meritorious subject in 1624 for his feat of crushing the rebels led by Yi Gwal. The white cuff and the hands clasped within the sleeves show that the portrait follows an olden-day style as with the images of meritorious subjects designated as such for their role in defending the country during the Japanese invasion in the late 16th Century, escorting the King or his family, or getting the country out of danger in a crisis situation. The lining material shown between the lapel gap and the neat patterns of the robe indicate the changing features in the style of the images of meritorious subjects in the early 17th Century. As for the face of the subject, the contour of the face was made chiefly in slightly brown lines based on light-orange color. Shading techniques were hardly used. The curved line between each cheekbone and the nose flowing down to the side of the mouth, the cheeks, and the ear show slight shading. As for the wrinkles of the robe, only the major wrinkles were portrayed in thick, black lines. No techniques for portraying the texture in curved wrinkles were used, showing that the portrait follows an olden-day style.