Grapevine

Object Details

• Artist

  Nanggok

• Description

  A broadly-stroked, curviliner grapevine stretches boldly across the surface of this eight-fold screen. Serrated grape leaves and curving tendrils are summarily rendered in light ink tones, with veins added in darker ink lines. Clusters of grapes are quickly dotted in among them in scorched black ink to serve as powerful visual accents punctuating the undulating rhythm of the grapevine.

• Inscriptions

  1. (T. Lawton, exerpted entry 80, A Decade of Discovery, 1979) The artist's inscription in the lower right of the seventh panel provides the sobriquet Nanggok, a cyclical date (Chin: kuei-wei), and a reference to the ninth month, in autumn (Fig. 1).

  1. (T. Lawton, exerpted entry 80, A Decade of Discovery, 1979) The artist's inscription in the lower right of the seventh panel provides the sobriquet Nanggok, a cyclical date (Chin: kuei-wei), and a reference to the ninth month, in autumn (Fig. 1).

• Label

  The grapevine motif, rendered in calligraphic lines and shades of ink across the eight panels of this screen, was also popular on painted ceramics and inlaid lacquer. The screen would have decorated the interior of a room, probably an official's study (where ink painting was preferred over brighter mineral pigments), while it also blocked cold drafts. The artist's inscription gives his studio name, Nanggok, and a date in the ninth month of a year indicated only by two signs placing it in the sixty-year cycle used in East Asian calendars.

• Provenance

  By 1974-1976

  Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, method of acquisition unknown [1]

  From 1976

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Mayuyama & Co., Ltd [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See letter to Dr. Harold P. Stern from Junkichi Mayuyama, July 8, 1974, copy in the object file. Mayuyama writes that Dr. Stern was recently in the shop in Tokyo, where he initially saw the work. Matsutarō Mayuyama (1882-1935) began Mayuyama & Co in Beijing during April 1905, where he specialized in the sale of Chinese antiquities. In 1916, Mayuyama relocated to Tokyo, Japan, opening a store in the Ginza district and later in Kyobashi. In Japan, the store featured Japanese works of art. After Matsutarō Mayuyama's death, his eldest son, Junkichi (1913-1999) inherited the business.

  [2] See billing statement to Freer Gallery of Art, from Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., November 1, 1976, copy in object file.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Korean Art (December 17, 1984 to June 23, 1986)

  Korean Art (March 20, 1982 to 2 April 1984)

  Korean Art (June 4, 1982 to September 23, 1982)

  Korean Art (July 15, 1981 to September 15, 1981)

  A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions 1970-1980 (November 9, 1979 to May 22, 1980)

  Korean Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to October 13, 1978)

  Korean Art (June 24, 1977 to April 8, 1978)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mayuyama & Co., Ltd. (established 1916)

• Origin

  Korea

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1880s

• Name

  Mayuyama & Co., Ltd.

• Place

  Korea

• Topic

  Art, Joseon period (1392 - 1910), Grape, Korean Art

• Culture

  Koreans

• Object Type

  Paintings