Painting: Ten Symbols Of Long Life (Sipjangsaeng-Do)
Object Details
- Donor Name
- Ensign U S N John B. Bernadou
- From card [for all 12 paintings, E77052-0 through E77052-11]: "12 Glue-color folk paintings on paper, used for room decoration or storeroom door amulets. - Chang-su Houchins. See pp. 468-9 in "The Bernadou, Allen, and Jouy Korean Collections in the U.S. National Museum" by Walter Hough in USNM AR 1891. All 12 paintings are described there.
- From card [for E77052-0], painting original # 1: "Glue color folk painting on paper, "ten long lives" (sipchangsaeng-do). Depicted are: the sun, moon, mountain, water, turtle, deer, crane, pine, bamboo, and a plant called pulloch'o (immortal grass). Used for room decoration, especially during the new year holiday season. When done on a screen, it is placed behind the royal throne. 52 x 93 cm. Smithsonian Photographic Services color transparency negative number 79-11955"
- "Late 19th century. Color on paper. The ten longevity symbols painted here are: the sun, moon, mountain, water, turtle, deer, crane, bamboo, pine tree and an imaginary plant called pulloch'o . "Pulloch'o" means immortal grass, known to the Chinese as lingchi, the sacred fungus, a symbol of immortality and longevity. This painting was popular in non-aristocratic households. Hough notes that such a painting is used for house decoration by "the lower-class Koreans." Founder of the Emille Museum in Seoul, and pioneer folk-art enthusiast Jo Ja-yong (1926-1999) produced, in the early 1970s, a number of publications dealing with Korean minhwa (folk painting)...Collected in Seoul. Ref: Hough Korean Catalog p. 468; Published (Houchins, 982: 58-60); "MBM 'Miguk bangmul-gwan sojang Hanguk munhwajae' or The Korean Relics in the United States", 1989: 50." [from: "An Ethnography of the Hermit Kingdom: The J.B. Bernadou Korean Collection 1884-1885", Chang-su Cho Houchins, 2004, number 118]
- Record Last Modified
- 14 Mar 2024
- Specimen Count
- 1
- Accession Date
- 24 Feb 1886
- Accession Number
- 016970
- USNM Number
- E77052-0
- Object Type
- Painting
- Height
- 93 cm
- Width
- 52 cm
- Place
- Seoul, South Korea, Asia
- See more items in
- Anthropology
- NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
- Topic
- Ethnology
- Record ID
- nmnhanthropology_8480093
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3fceda275-92a8-4362-8239-03a058c2d732
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.