Provenance

This installation in the Korea Foundation Gallery highlights the captivating stories behind how works of art entered the museum’s collection. Not all arrived as a purchase from art dealers or auction houses—some emerged from on-site research trips that led to unexpected discoveries, while others were welcomed through generous gifts and donations. Ancient Chinese Bronzes, a 10-panel folding screen has a distinguished provenance, or ownership history. It was once in the possession of Kwon Ok-yeon (1923–2011), a prominent oil painter as part of his family inheritance and later passed to a French ambassador to South Korea. Alternately, the Amitabha Triad was an unexpected find in a pawn shop during a curator’s early-1900s research trip. 

These extraordinary objects remind us that transparent provenance not only upholds ethical collecting practices but also reveals compelling stories—narratives that illuminate the cultural, social, and political worlds in which these works of art changed hands.