Lot Essay
In this screen groups of imaginary Tartars hunters return to their camp on horseback and on foot, many of them carrying dead game on shoulder poles. Under the pine trees beside their yurts and tents, with tethered horses and camels nearby, Tartars dress game, relax, and smoke pipes.
In the background, on the upper part of the screen, the hunting continues. On panel two (counting from the right), two horsemen with spears chase a stag, a doe and a rabbit, that were flushed out by an attendant beating a gong. On panel four, a horseman with a spear gallops toward a tiger and a wolf on panel five; he is followed by two beaters with sticks. On panel six, three horsemen and two footmen chase a wolf, a rabbit, and a chimera.
The Chinese had always admired the equestrian virtuosity of their frequent enemies, the Tartars and the Mongols. Scenes of Tartar encampments and hunts became popular in China at the beginning of the 13th century through the work of the horse painter Ch'en Chu-chung and other artists. Their success established 'Tartar Encampments and/or Hunts' as one of the standard, traditional subjects of Chinese painting.
Because so much of the formal culture of the Yi-Dynasty (1392-1910) Korea was based closely on Ming-Dynasty (1368-1644) Chinese models, the Tartar hunt an/or encampment theme, along with the Che School landscape and figure painting style, must have reached Korea in the 15th and 16th centuries. However, most of the surviving Korean representations of the subject are in the form of screens dating from the 18th or 19th centuries. The devastating Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597, followed by the Manchu invasions of 1627 and 1636, took a heavy toll on earlier Korean paintings.
In the background, on the upper part of the screen, the hunting continues. On panel two (counting from the right), two horsemen with spears chase a stag, a doe and a rabbit, that were flushed out by an attendant beating a gong. On panel four, a horseman with a spear gallops toward a tiger and a wolf on panel five; he is followed by two beaters with sticks. On panel six, three horsemen and two footmen chase a wolf, a rabbit, and a chimera.
The Chinese had always admired the equestrian virtuosity of their frequent enemies, the Tartars and the Mongols. Scenes of Tartar encampments and hunts became popular in China at the beginning of the 13th century through the work of the horse painter Ch'en Chu-chung and other artists. Their success established 'Tartar Encampments and/or Hunts' as one of the standard, traditional subjects of Chinese painting.
Because so much of the formal culture of the Yi-Dynasty (1392-1910) Korea was based closely on Ming-Dynasty (1368-1644) Chinese models, the Tartar hunt an/or encampment theme, along with the Che School landscape and figure painting style, must have reached Korea in the 15th and 16th centuries. However, most of the surviving Korean representations of the subject are in the form of screens dating from the 18th or 19th centuries. The devastating Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597, followed by the Manchu invasions of 1627 and 1636, took a heavy toll on earlier Korean paintings.