Korean Ink and Watercolor Illustration on Paper of Chong Gak Party. The men cavort and laugh before the bridegroom, likely an upper class citizen wearing a Jeongjagwan, while the women bring them refreshment. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Overall: 24 3/4 x 28 1/2 in. 

Sight: 19 1/2 x 23 1/2 in. 

#5023 #31 . 

In 1392 Taejo of Joseon established the Joseon Dynasty in modern-day Korea, in the aftermath of the overthrow of Goryeo under the control of the Mongol Yuan Chinese Dynasty. During its 500 year duration, Joseon encouraged the entrenchment of Confucian ideals and doctrines in Korean society, supplanting the Golden Age of Buddhism from the last two centuries. In the 1590s, the kingdom was severely weakened due to the two failed Japanese invasions of 1592 and 1598. Several decades later, Joseon was invaded by the Later Jin dynasty and the Qing dynasty in 1627 and 1636 respectively, leading to an increasingly harsh isolationist policy, for which the country became known as the “hermit kingdom” in Western literature. After the invasions Joseon experienced a nearly 200 year period of peace and prosperity, along with cultural and technological development. However, faced with internal strife, power struggles, international pressure, and rebellions, the kingdom declined rapidly in the late 19th Century, being replaced by the short-lived Korean Empire in 1897. Much of modern Korean culture, etiquette, norms, and societal attitudes toward current issues, along with the modern Korean language and its dialects, derive from the culture and traditions of Joseon. Modern Korean bureaucracy and administrative divisions were also established during the Joseon period. One of the most drastic changes during the Joseon period was a shift in attitudes and purposes for marriage, as Goryeo did not function in a purely patrilineal hierarchy. Joseon society, completely restructured by Neo-Confucianism, destroyed women’s rights and put paramount importance on clan structure and bloodlines. Society was broken down into Yangban (ruling class), Jungin and Sangmin (upper and lower middle class), and Cheonmin (outcasts, either free or slaves), with strict laws to ensure that individuals would remain in their station, no matter their abilities or intellect. While men enjoyed relative freedom of speech and even engaged in Chong Gak (bachelor parties), the women were expected simply to serve, silently and chastely, and were forbidden to remarry if they were widowed. These policies, along with the preference for wearing impractical all-white clothing called minbok at all times and nation-wide sahwa (purges of the literati and artistic groups) during particularly autocratic periods of the Dynasty, contributed to the aggressive stance outside nations took towards them, as they were viewed as backwards, old-fashioned, and exclusionist.

Commensurate with age.