Lotus and White Crane  /  Pair of Pheasants

Yi Bang-un, Joseon Period 18th Century (1765~?)

Yi Pang-un (李昉運, 1761–?) was a painter of the late Chosŏn period, of the Hamp'yŏng lineage, whose courtesy name was Myŏnggo (明考) and who used a variety of sobriquets, among them Kiya (箕野), Simjae (心齋), Ch'wihyang (醉鄕), and Sim-ong (心翁). Whether he is to be classified as a literati painter or a painter of chungin status remains an unresolved question, though it is clear that he never served as a professional painter attached to the court. A distant kinsman of Sim Sa-jŏng (沈師正), he was accomplished in the playing of the kŏmun'go and skilled in landscape, landscape painting of actual scenery, narrative figure painting, and flower-and-bird painting. His pictorial manner reflects a Koreanized form of the Southern School mode grounded in the influence of Sim Sa-jŏng and Kang Se-hwang; in his paintings of actual scenery, the influences of Chŏng Sŏn, Sim Sa-jŏng, and Kang Se-hwang are all present in roughly equal measure, and his style may appropriately be characterized as eclectic.

These two works are rare examples of flower-and-bird painting within his output and give clear expression to both his technical accomplishment and his pictorial manner. The egret and lotus are subjects that symbolize longevity and abundant blessing, and were beloved themes in the flower-and-bird painting genre for the beauty of their visual appearance; the paired pheasants, as a bird possessed of a wildness that resists domestication, was cherished as a subject symbolizing the deep resolve and integrity of the literati spirit. Both themes enjoyed wide popularity in the late Chosŏn period, and works by Sim Sa-jŏng, Kim Hong-do, and numerous other painters survive, and the influence of these predecessors is reflected in the composition, motifs, and pictorial manner of the present works.

While the Paired Pheasants retains more traditional elements in its composition, motifs, and painterly method, the Egret and Lotus embodies a new aesthetic sensibility that anticipates the emergence of a more sensory and idiosyncratic pictorial mode from the nineteenth century onward. The refined ink tonality centered on dilute wash, the brushwork that is at once seemingly artless and yet fluid and gentle in its unfolding, and the luminous effects of delicately applied washes of vermilion, white, and dissolved ultramarine — all of these reveal Yi Pang-un's mastery at its fullest and invite a fresh appraisal of his achievement. The work displays a sensory pictorial manner that invites comparison with the flower painting of Sin Myŏng-yŏn (申命衍), and stands as a significant contribution to the flower-and-bird painting of the late Chosŏn period.

The Paired Pheasants bears, alongside the artist's own inscribed verse, the signature Yuryon (遊蓮), below which are a vermilion square seal reading Yi-ssi (李氏) and a white-text square seal reading Kiya (箕埜); a four-character white-text square seal below these resists legible decipherment. The Lotus and Egret similarly bears, alongside the artist's inscribed verse, a white-text oval seal reading Yŏn-ong (蓮翁) and below it two small white-text round seals reading Yi (李) and Ssi (氏) respectively. The sobriquets Yuryon and Yŏn-ong that appear in these works were previously unknown, and the use of the designation Yŏn-ong in particular indicates that the work was produced during the artist's middle years or later.