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Korea's Sipjangsaeng Iconography: The Quest for Longevity and Immortality in the Visual Arts of the Joseon Dynasty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Penny Bailey
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Abstract

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This article introduces Korea's sipjangsaeng iconography in the visual arts, including its proliferation in Joseon's elite and folk contexts, its codification in the painted screens of the court, and its application in works of art held at various international museums. It considers how Chinese motifs came to be used so widely in Korea; which individuals or groups commissioned and produced the sipjangsaeng design; and why, despite its resolutely Neo-Confucian worldview, the Joseon dynasty played host to the proliferation of a genre emanating largely from a Daoist tradition. To address these questions, it investigates the transnational, ideological, and social contexts that gave rise to Korea's distinctive sipjangsaeng imprint on the longevity theme and highlights the intrinsic importance of symbolism to Korea's cultural heritage, and its contribution to the articulation of artistic identity and difference in East Asian visual culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 18 , Issue 8 , April 2020 , e2
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2020

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