Portrait of Simdeukgyeong

Basic information

Designation

Treasure No.1488

Category

Painting

Era

1710년

Designated year

2006

Location

북구, 광주광역시— 광주 북구 하서로 110, 국립광주박물관 (매곡동,국립광주박물관)

Coordinates

35.189095, 126.883091

Little is known about Sim Deuk-gyeong (1629-1710) except that he passed the lower civil service examination in 1693 (the 19th year of King Sukjong’s reign). In this portrait he is wearing a Confucian scholar’s overcoat and a tiered black horsehair hat and seated on a stool, in a three-quarter view from left. The two colophons, both composed by Yi Seo (1662-1723), reveal that the portrait was painted by Yun Du-seo (1668-1715) in the 11th lunar month of 1710 (the 36th year of King Sukjong’s reign), four months after Sim’s death. The colophon at right was calligraphed by Yun and the one at left by Yi himself. The face and the costume are rather exaggerated and stylized, combining the elements of realistic portrait painting and stylized figure painting. In his book Cheongjuk hwasa (Cheongjuk’s History of Painting), Nam Tae-eung (1687-1740), a scholar and art critic, wrote that Yun Du-seo painted a portrait of his friend Sim Deuk-gyeong after his death, and that everyone in Sim’s family cried when they saw it. This is an important work by Yun Du-seo, a leading literati painter of the late Joseon Dynasty, and shows the high standard of literati painting.

Location