Letter
Gim Jeong-hui
Asian Art
On View: Asian Galleries, South, 2nd floor
MEDIUM
Ink on paper
DATES
1830
DYNASTY
Joseon dynasty
DIMENSIONS
frame: 20 3/4 × 32 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (52.7 × 83.2 × 3.2 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed "Hi" and dated equivalent of 4 January 1830
COLLECTIONS
Asian Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
2022.37.4
CREDIT LINE
Gift of the Carroll Family Collection
PROVENANCE
Prior to 1980, provenance not yet documented; by 1980, acquired by Joseph and Roberta Carroll of New York, NY; 2021, loaned by the Joseph P. Carroll Trust and Roberta Carroll Trust to the Brooklyn Museum; 2022, gift of the Joseph P. Carroll Trust and Roberta Carroll Trust to the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Letter written in loose, cursive but legible Chinese characters, on a horizontally oriented sheet of paper, formerly folded at the center, now matted and framed. Letter consists of 17 vertical lines of script with an old stamp at the top right.
Contents have been translated:
"I found your letter dated last year when I came back from P'yong Yang
recently. Although it was last year's, your news brightens up the new year, and
I understand how happy you must be. It's the first month of the year and
everything seems refreshed. Your future is auspicious, your words and thoughts
calm and orderly, and you are just and magnanimous in everything you do.
Much congratulations.
I greeted the new year in a foreign land, feeling anxious as I would feel at the
prospect of being separated from my parents. Furthermore, knowing that I can
not see my younger brothers and sisters hurts me so much that even if my
heart were made of stone, it would melt.
I appreciate very much the food you sent me. I know that it was sent with much
care. I shall write to you from time to time. For now, I bid you a happy New
Year."
Translation courtesy of Professor Edward W. Wagner, Korea Institute,
Harvard University
Gim Jeong-hui (alternate names Wandang and Chu'sa) was a great calligrapher and literatus during the last decades of the Joseon period. He was a member and founder of the Chusa school of scholarship (named after his sobriquet) which modeled itself on the Chinese Southern school. He traveled to China as a young man, and his calligraphy style refers to Chinese eccentrics and to Chan Buddhist forms.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is on view in Asian Galleries, South, 2nd floor
CAPTION
Gim Jeong-hui (Korean, 1786–1856). Letter, 1830. Ink on paper, frame: 20 3/4 × 32 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (52.7 × 83.2 × 3.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Carroll Family Collection, 2022.37.4 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2022.37.4_PS11.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 2022.37.4_PS11.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023
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