Cho Hyun-myeong from Punhyang Cho Family (1800s): Art, History and Details

Cho Hyun-myeong from Punhyang Cho Family (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

These two portraits are of members of the Cho family, which originated from the area of Pungyang. Cho Jae-ho (1702-1762) on the left is the cousin of Cho Hyun-myeong on the right. Both were High State Councilors, called yeong-uijeong, and the Cho family ordered these two portraits as a family honor. Korean portraits were copied for sharing at each family Confucian ritual; similar portraits are still in the collection of the Cho family in Korea.

Object facts

• Title: Cho Hyun-myeong from Punhyang Cho Family
• Date: 1800s
• Culture: Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: album painting, ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Image: 35.6 x 27.3 cm (14 x 10 3/4 in.); Mounted: 44.4 x 33.2 cm (17 1/2 x 13 1/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Album leaf
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1999.15.1

A detail from the museum

These two men belonged to the Pungyang Cho Clan, one of the most important political power houses in 18th-century Korea.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Korea portraits from the collection of the National Museum [한국의초상화 : 국립중앙박물관소장조선시대초상화특별전]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 1979.
• Cho, Sun-mie. Portrait Paintings in Korea [한국초상화 연구]. Seoul: Youlhwadang, 1983.
• Yi Tae-ho. "Portrait of Joseon Period [조선시대의 초상화]." Misulsa Yeongu: Journal of Art History, vol. 12 (December, 1998): 207–224.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.