<em>Spirit Shrine</em>, June 1811. Ink and color on paper, 67 5/16 × 56 5/8 in. (171 × 143.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 86.25 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.25_SL3.jpg)

Spirit Shrine, June 1811. Ink and color on paper, 67 5/16 × 56 5/8 in. (171 × 143.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 86.25 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.25_SL3.jpg)

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What do the black bars on the left and right sides of this painting represent?

They are part of the brickwork of the temple wall enclosures but they are also trigrams, shorthand for certain Asian written characters. In this case, they are generic auspicious words for good fortune and long life!

I love the fish-shaped wind chimes hanging from the shrine's eaves. These are found in many Buddhist temples in Korea, and serve as a reminder to stay vigilant, as fish are known to sleep with their eyes open.

Thanks!

Is this a painting of a real building?

A type of building, yes. You are looking at a painting of a spirit shrine, where families would go to worship the spirits of their deceased ancestors. It would be kept on the properties of aristocratic family homes.

This, however, is obviously a painting and the red text in the center reads "Peace for previous King and Queen" and would have hung in a public building for the public to worship the royal house.

Do you notice the vases flanking either side of the shrine? They are filled with peonies, which symbolize wealth and honor. Keep an eye out for them in other objects in the exhibition, especially the ceramics.

What are the names of these symbols?

I'm not positive about the meanings of the symbols you pointed out in this painting but I can give you some information about another small detail in this work.

Do you notice the black bars on either side of the wall behind the shrine?

Sure.

Those are trigrams, shorthand for certain Asian written characters. In this case, they are generic auspicious words for good fortune and long life!

Thank you.

I am confused if this is a Korean Art because I can read the characters in the painting. They are Chinese characters.

They are indeed! Korea has a political and scholarly history that is quite tied to China's. Hangul, what you recognize as the Korean writing system, was actually invented in the Joseon Dynasty, around the 15th century.

Before the invention of Hangul, the Chinese writing system was used, and it continued to show up in some more scholarly or decorative contexts like this.

Thank you! I see. I also see the year in the painting that written Jiaqing Sixteenth. Jiaqing was one of the emperor in Qing Dynasty in China. I look up Wikipedia. It was exactly 1811. That was the reason I was confused. I wonder if the Korean marked time by Chinese emperor’s name at that time?

For a long time, Korea was part of a tribute system in which the Korean king was under the rule of the Chinese emperor. Korea was fairly independent, but this system certainly accounts for the naming of a Chinese emperor when telling the date.

Thanks! It’s interesting. One more question, When did Korean start to mark their own date?

Of course! Looking, I can't seem to find a definitive date, However, the country did become more insular during the Joseon dynasty, so it wouldn't have been out of place to start changing to a uniquely Korean system at that time.

Cool! Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Spirit Shrine

Asian Art

Every yangban (aristocratic) home was expected to have a shrine in which the spirits of the family’s ancestors were housed and honored. For wealthy families, the shrine was a separate building in the family compound, but in smaller homes the shrine was a simple cabinet or even a painting of a shrine building. This image of an ancestor shrine is far larger than most, and indeed its inscriptions indicate that it was made for use in a public building rather than in a family home. The honorees are the king and queen, who are enshrined here with an elaborate plaque. It is likely that government workers worshipped their rulers while standing before this painting, much as families would have worshipped their grandparents before smaller versions at home.

MEDIUM Ink and color on paper

Place Made: Korea

DATES June 1811

DYNASTY Joseon Dynasty

DIMENSIONS 67 5/16 × 56 5/8 in. (171 × 143.8 cm) frame: 70 × 59 1/4 × 2 3/4 in. (177.8 × 150.5 × 7 cm) (show scale)

INSCRIPTIONS Inscribed, in the center: "Peace for previous King and Queen [unnamed]"; and in the lower-right corner: "the sixth month of the sixteenth year of the Chia-ching era [1811]"

COLLECTIONS Asian Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 86.25

CREDIT LINE Designated Purchase Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION From "Korean Art Collection in the Brooklyn Museum" catalogue: Image of a small shrine situated on a platform on a terrace. Paintings of shrines (gammo yeoje do) often replaced actual ancestral shrines in the late Joseon dynasty. This example is particularly interesting because it is dedicated to the king and the queen of the state instead of family ancestors. According to the inscription on the painting, the painting was completed in the sixth lunar month of 1811 at the Hall of East Fragrance, a place that most likely belonged to a local government office. It is an important historical document that proves that shrine paintings were not only in demand by commoners but also by public offices. Mounted in Western style (i.e. no longer in hanging scroll format). From Catalogue Card: Spirit shrine paintings were specifically intended for use in Joseon dynasty homes; an ancestral shrine was an integral part of every Korean house; ancestor worship was the primary duty of every Korean family, who were morally obliged to worship their ancestors for at least three generations back. A wealthy household maintained a separate room, or even a separate building as an ancestral shrine. The room was equipped with special furniture and utensils for the rituals of ancestor worship; altar tables and offering stands as well as a small but very high chair that served as a throne for the ancestor’s spirit. "Kam Mo Yo Je Do" means "Shrine Where the Ancestors Come When Worshipped." The space between the open doors of the tile roofed shrine in the painting was left blank. On the anniversary of an ancestor’s death, a slip of paper inscribed with his posthumous name was pasted temporarily on the blank space. This painting commemorates royal ancestors; the table is inscribed with the spirit names of a former king and queen. Dated at the lower right: June 16th year of the Chia-ch'ing reign (1796-1820). It is usual for the dates on Korean paintings to refer to Chinese Reigns rather than Korean ones.

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Spirit Shrine, June 1811. Ink and color on paper, 67 5/16 × 56 5/8 in. (171 × 143.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 86.25 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.25_SL3.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 86.25_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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