Portrait of the Great Master Yeongwoldang Eungjin (1700s): Art, History and Details

Portrait of the Great Master Yeongwoldang Eungjin (1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The monk in this portrait, identified by an inscription in a red cartouche at the upper right of this painting, is the Great Master Yeongwoldang Eungjin. Portraits of this type, painted following the death of an important Buddhist monk, are known as jinyeong. His elevated status is indicated by his fine monastic garments, the dragon-headed ceremonial fly whisk he holds in his left hand, and the Buddhist scripture in his right hand. The writing box on his desk, with brushes, ink stone, and water dropper, further emphasizes his prowess as a man of deep insight into the Buddhist teachings.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of the Great Master Yeongwoldang Eungjin
• Date: 1700s
• Culture: Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk
• Dimensions: Overall: 216.9 x 103.3 cm (85 3/8 x 40 11/16 in.); Painting only: 114.4 x 79.2 cm (45 1/16 x 31 3/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1990.16

A detail from the museum

In East Asian Buddhist temples, portraits of Buddhist monks are housed in special dedicated halls as icons of spiritual ancestors to the community of Buddhist monks and nuns.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cho, Sun-mie. Portrait Paintings in Korea [한국초상화 연구]. Seoul: Youlhwadang, 1983.
• Cunningham, Michael R. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (June 1991): 63–147.
• Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.

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.