Grapevine and Squirrels
Squirrels playing on a grapevine: an early 19th-century Joseon auspicious painting wishing for many descendants through many-seeded grapes and squirrels. Full commentary ↓
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Grapevine and Squirrels is a painting by an unknown maker (early 19th century) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 137.2 × 57.8 cm.
In the pictureA thick vine winds down from top to bottom, and bunches of grapes and broad leaves painted in dark ink hang along it. A squirrel sits near the top of the vine, and a classical Chinese poem is written at upper left. The paper ground is a pale yellowish tone, and the grapes are rendered as rounded forms with tones of ink alone.
BackgroundPaintings of grapes with squirrels were auspicious pictures popular in the late Joseon dynasty. Grapes, with their many seeds, stood for fertility, and the unbroken vine for long life, while the squirrel (or rat), known for breeding prolifically, added a wish for flourishing descendants. Such paintings, mixing the decorum of literati painting with the wishes of folk painting, were exchanged as wedding or New Year gifts.
Puzzle tipThe thick line of the vine runs vertically through the picture, so join its flow first. The grape pieces have the darkest ink and are easy to pick out, and the leaf pieces fit along the direction of their veins. The calligraphy pieces at upper left and the squirrel pieces at upper right are markers that help set positions. With some blank paper pieces, 100 pieces is about right.
- Period
- Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)
- Culture
- Korea
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions
- 137.2 x 57.8 cm
- Credit line
- Purchase, Bequests of Harrison Cady and Louisa McNeary, by exchange, and Bequest of Dorothy Graham Bennett, 1987
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
In these collections: Seollal Korean Painting Puzzles · Animals in Masterpieces
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