Top Korean cultural heritages go on display in centennial of nat'l museum

By Shin Hae-in

SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- Top Korean treasures, craft and artworks, including an ancient tomb painting and paintings currently owned by Japan and the United States, will go on display from Monday in an exhibition commemorating the centennial of Korea's national museum.

"The 100th Anniversary of Korean Museum," running through Nov. 8 at the National
Museum of Korea, central Seoul, will feature some 150 ancient artworks including
"Mongyudowondo (Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land)," by Joseon Dynasty
(1392-1910) painter Ahn Gyeon, and No. 207 national treasure "Cheonmado (Painting
of the Heavenly Horse)," which are works rarely disclosed to the general public.
This year marks the centennial of year 1909 when King Sunjong (1874~1926) opened
the Imperial Museum, the predecessor of the National Museum of Korea, to share
the cultural assets with the public.
"We hope this exhibition will become a stepping stone in mapping out another 100
years of Korean museums and preserving and developing our cultural heritages,"
the museum's director Choe Kwang-shik said on the museum Web site.
"Mongyudowondo," a 1447 painting Ahn Gyeon created for Joseon Prince Ahnpyeong in
three days is considered the oldest landscape painting by a Korean artist.
Currently housed in the central library of Tenri University in Japan and
designated a Japanese national treasure, the painting will go on display in Seoul
for nine days from Sept. 29 as the first local showing since 1996.
Depicting Ahn Gyeon's dream, the painting is considered one of the most
representative artworks of the Joseon Dynasty with several replicas produced over
the past decades. It was found in 1893 in Kagoshima, Japan, and purchased by
Tenri University in the early 1950s.
"Cheonmado" is the only surviving picture of Korea's Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D.
936), excavated from Cheonmachong, or the Heavenly Horse Tomb, in Silla's capital
Gyeongju.
The name of the tomb, a wood-lined chamber excavated in 1973, derives from the
famous painting of a white horse which has eight legs and is depicted with wings
on its feet.
The painting is said to indicate the importance of horse culture in the ancient
Silla society and also the central role of the king in shamanism practiced by its
people. The painting was displayed for a short while in 1997 and was kept hidden
in the National Museum of Korea's special warehouse for decades. It will be
displayed for 13 days through Oct. 11.
Another rare local showing would be that of "Suwolgwaneumdo (Water-Moon
Avalokiteshvara)," a Buddhist painting dating back to the Goryo and Joseon
Dynasties (A.D. 918 -1910). Currently owned by the U.S. Metropolitan Museum of
Art, it is the first time locals will be seeing the actual painting.
The superb early-14th-century painting is said to follow one of the most commonly
used iconographic conventions for portraying this popular Buddhist deity. Attired
in beautiful robes and sashes, he is shown seated on a rocky outcropping with an
entourage of officials offering precious gifts.
The extraordinary delicacy of the pictorial details, many of which are executed
in brilliant gold pigment, and the pristine state of preservation make this work
one of the most important extant examples of the preeminent Goryo tradition of
devotional painting, the U.S. museum explains on its Web site.
The exhibition, open to anyone for free, will feature eight other overseas
museums-housed pieces flying to Seoul for the first time in decades, as well as
Korea-owned ancient paintings and craftworks also disclosed for the first time in
many years.
hayney@yna.co.kr