Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution

P. 79–105.

Khokhlova E.

In the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kunstkamera, Saint Petersburg), there is an eight-panel screen attributed to Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn (1676-1759), one of the most important artists in the history of Korean art. Chŏng Sŏn was a pioneer of so-called ‘true-view’ landscapes. Only a few works of the artist are in museum collections outside the Korean peninsula, one of which is the screen in question. Each landscape is signed and bears a seal with the name and pen name of the artist, based on which, presumably, the work was attributed to the artist’s brush. However, the attribution of the work raises questions. Based on a comparative analysis of the screen with other correctly attributed work of the artist, this article suggests that the screen is a forgery and is incorrectly attributed to Chŏng Sŏn. Furthermore, not all eight panels of the screen depict the Kŭmgang mountains, as is indicated in the description of the screen presented in the museum.

Keywords: screen, korean painting, attribution, Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn, True-view’ landscape paintings (chin’gyŏng sansuhwa), Kunstkamera

In book

Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West. Artifacts and Intangible Heritage

Vol. 1. , Venice: Venezia Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Venice University Press, 2023.