The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Portrait of a Government Official

Portrait of a Government Official

1921
(Korean, 1848–1941)
Korea, Japanese colonial period (1910−1945)
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Overall: 156.4 x 87.3 cm (61 9/16 x 34 3/8 in.); Painting only: 127 x 71.1 cm (50 x 28 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2020.259
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

It was European photography introduced to Korea in the end of the 1800s that most inspired Chae’s naturalistic approach to his subject.

Description

Wearing a dark green court uniform, a man is seated in a chair covered with a leopard skin, a gift from the royal court to a newly appointed officer. The embroidered rank badge with a design of a single flying crane identifies the sitter’s bureaucratic status: the third ranked officer. In this work, the painter Chae Yongshin (1848–1941) rendered a newly promoted government official's shy smile, giving a glimpse into his mixed feelings of confidence and anxiety about his future professional career.
  • This portrait of an officer is mounted in a two-color hanging scroll format using blue and beige silk damask with flower patterns. While the mounting is very worn and damaged, the pigment from the painting overlaps the edges of the border silks in some areas, which seems to indicate that it is original to the painting. Not many Korean paintings have survived with their original mountings, and so it is very important to preserve this format. Any future treatment will attempt to save and reuse the current silks and lining fabric with inscription.
  • early 1960s–2019
    Dr. Poul Stengaard Hansen by descent to his daughter
    2019–2020
    (Kang Collection of Korean Art, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2020–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Hansen worked from 1963 to 1965 as the Chief of Mission at the National Medical Center in Seoul, Korea.
  • Cho, Sun-mie. Portrait Paintings in Korea [한국초상화 연구]. Seoul: Youlhwadang, 1983.
    Yi Tae-ho. "Portrait of Joseon Period [조선시대의 초상화]." Misulsa Yeongu: Journal of Art History, vol. 12 (December, 1998): 207-224. www.dbpia.co.kr
    Kang, Kwan-sik. "The Hair and Eye Ritual Assumption and Modelistio Theme for Portraits of the Joseon Dynasty [털과 눈: 조선시대 초상화의 祭儀的 命題와 造形的 課題]." Korean Journal of Art History (December 2005): 95-129. www.dbpia.co.kr
    Portraits of the Joseon Period [조선 시대 초상화]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2007.
    Cho, Sun-mie. Great Korean Portraits. Seoul: Dolbegae Publishers, 2010.
    Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014.
    "Recommendations from Our Curators.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 2 (Spring 2021): 32. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 32
  • Conversation about Diversity in Korean Embroidery Arts- Korean Gallery 236 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-October 27, 2020).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Government Official|url=false|author=Chae Yongshin|year=1921|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.259