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Lot 94

A KOREAN SCROLL PAINTING OF A LADY AND CHILD BEFORE A ROBE STAND
18th century

14 May 2025, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £305,200 inc. premium

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A KOREAN SCROLL PAINTING OF A LADY AND CHILD BEFORE A ROBE STAND

18th century
Ink and pigment on silk, depicting a lady in traditional Korean costume, holding a bird in one hand and a fly whisk in the other, standing with a child in front of a robe stand, mounted as a hanging scroll. 76cm (29 7/8in) x 44.5cm (17 1/2in) excluding mount.

Footnotes

十八世紀 絹本設色 朝鮮仕女童子圖軸

An 18th-century Korean painting depicting a woman with a child before a robe stand is a rare example of female portraiture in the Joseon period. The rigid constraints of Neo-Confucian patriarchy resulted in a scarcity of such images. However, the rise of pungsokhwa (genre paintings of everyday life) in the late 17th century led to more depictions of women, primarily gisaeng (female entertainers), commoners, and shamans. While literature extolled women's roles as matriarchs, wives, and daughters, their visual representation remained limited until the late 19th century, often appearing in dual ancestral portraits alongside their husbands. For a discussion on genre painting depicting women in the 18th century, see J.Portal, Korea: Art and Archaeology, London, 2000, p.132.

See a related Korean scroll painting depicting a lady in traditional Korean costume, 19th century, in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum (collection reference no.TA-427). See also a related portrait of a beauty by Shin Yun-bok (1758-1813), in the Kansong Museum of Art, Seoul (acc.no.1973).

Compare also with four closely related Korean paintings of similar proportions which were sold at Koller Zurich, 3 December 2020, lot 442.

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