Heron Under Blossoming Lotus Plant at the Water's Edge
dated to 1909
Artists
Description
Executed in ink and light color on paper, this painting in hanging scroll format depicts a white heron standing in shallow waters before grasses, reeds, and a blossoming lotus plant. The heron is portrayed in profile facing the viewer's left, with one leg straight and submerged beneath the water, the other bent and raised slightly above the surface, revealing its talons. The lotus plant artfully frames the bird -- a broad, dark colored lotus leaf provides a contrasting backdrop to the bird’s white, feathered body, while another curled leaf and full white blossom hover above its head like a canopy. While the heron is painted in reserve -- the white of the paper left unpainted while a series of short ink brushstrokes outline his main form -- select areas of foliage are saturated in wet colors, the diluted pigments pooled and layered to create a blurred, watery effect in the composition. The artist, An Chung-sik, inscribed, dated, signed, and applied his seals at the upper left, indicating that he painted the work in the eighth lunar month of the year corresponding to 1909. In both the Chinese and Korean traditions, the heron and lotus depicted together is a symbol of the ideal Confucian scholar, as the terms for both form a rebus representing the continual success of a scholar-official.
Dimensions
painting proper: H. 134.1 x W. 43.5 cm (52 13/16 x 17 1/8 in.) mounting (including cord and roller ends): H. 206 x W. 65.5 cm (81 1/8 x 25 13/16 in.)
Provenance
Private Collection, Los Angeles, (1968-2006), sold; to [Kang Collection, New York, (2006- 2008)], sold; to Robert D. Mowry, Brookline, MA, (2008-2016), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2016.
Related Artworks
View More
Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper; with inscription, signature, and seal of the artist; with signature reading "Ram-chŏng"
20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink on silk; with signature reading "Kim Hae-kang"; with three seals of the artist
20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink on silk; with artist inscription, signature reading "So-ho," and three seals reading "Kim Ŭng-wŏn in", "So-ho", and "Ch'ŏn-ram"
19th-20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink on paper; with signature reading "Mi-san"; with three seals of the artist
20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink and color on silk; with artist's inscription and signature of the artist reading "Kyong-sul won-chong Sim-chon An Chung-sik sa"; with seals of the artist reading "An Chung Sik In" (square, red, intaglio seal) and "Sim Chon" (square, red, relief seal)
20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink and color on paper; with artist signature and seals
20th centuryKoreanEight-panel folding screen; ink on sky-blue tinted paper; each of the eight paintings with artist's inscription followed by a signature reading "Soho" (Chinese, "Xiaohu"); the first (i.e., far right) painting also with a signature of the artist reading "Kim Ŭng-wŏn"; each inscription preceded by an elongated elliptical red seal and each signature followed by two red seals, all the seals now virtually obliterated through abrasion
19th-20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink and slight color on paper; with inscription, signature, and two seals of the artist
19th-20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink and color on paper, with inscription and signature reading "Yu San" and with three seals of the artist
20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink and colors on paper; with signature of the artist reading "Ch'ŏng-chŏn hwa"; with two seals of the artist
20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink on silk; with artist inscription, signature reading "So-ho che," and his three seals; additional inscriptions, signatures, and seals of three other individuals
20th centuryKoreanHanging scroll; ink and colors on paper; with inscription, signature, and one seal of the artist
20th centuryKorean