
Juliette Hammer
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Sold for £305,200 inc. premium
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Specialist, Chinese Works of Art

Head of Chinese and Asian Art, London
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.