Pictorial Ideographs (Munjado) of the Eight Confucian Virtues
Eight confucian virtues
Mounted on each side of this screen are unrelated paintings: on one side is a set of the eight Confucian virtues, and on the other a Mongolian hunting scene. Pictorial Ideographs (Munjado) of the Eight Confucian Virtues In pictorial ideographs, called Munjado, calligraphic paintings of Chinese characters are integrated with images that relate to the characters’ meaning. Sets featuring the eight Confucian virtues were popular, which demonstrates the importance of Confucian ideas and practices during the late Joseon period. Always appearing in the same order, the eight Confucian virtues are, from right to left, filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, trust, propriety, righteousness, integrity, and sensibility. Often displayed in a child’s room, the images were didactic and intended to inspire proper values. The pictorial illustrations generally refer to well-known historical stories or legends. Although the characters and their related stories are based on Chinese classics, the aesthetics and design elements are purely Korean. For example, the way in which the a single image is used in the composition as a signifier for a complex story is unique to Korea. In addition, sets featuring all of the eight virtues are distinctly Korean in taste: in China, the individual characters for longevity (shou) and fortune (fu) were consistently the most favored subjects and were usually presented in a hanging scroll format. Although there are many known screens illustrating the eight virtues, LACMA’s example is distinctive because each panel also includes four lines from proverbs related to each virtue. The artist arranged the characters and their visual elements with great harmony, embedding the images with two different techniques: in some characters, the images completely replace a character stroke, while in others, the pictorial elements appear inside an existing stroke.
Unidentified Korean artist
Los Angels County Museum of Art<br /><br />https://collections.lacma.org/node/170471
19th Century
Gift of Ann and Jack Levine
Ten-panel screen, ink and color on silk
Chinese
Painting
M.87.267
Munja-001
Hwajo Munjado
화조문자도 8폭 병풍(花鳥文字圖八幅屛風)
Birds and flowers with eight letters of Confucian virtues
This eight panel paintings shows combination of Hwajodo and Munjado. Top parts are flowers and birds painting and bottom parts are eight Chinese characters of Confucius virtues.
화조(花鳥)와 문자(文字)를 함께 그려 놓은 그림. 지본채색(紙本彩色). 8폭 병풍(세로 170.7, 가로 356). 아래쪽에는 '孝·悌·忠·信·禮·義·廉·恥'의 윤리문자도를 배치하고, 위쪽에는 화조(花鳥)를 그려 넣은 2단 구조임. 문자도는 글자획을 상징물로 대체한 형식에, 글자 내부를 꽃과 식물문양으로 장식함. 각 폭마다 영지와 봉황, 소나무와 학, 모란, 국화, 복숭화꽃 등이 그려짐.
Unidentified Korean artist
National Folk Museum of Korea <br /><br />http://www.nfm.go.kr/Data/colSd_new.jsp
Ⓒ 국립민속박물관. All Rights Reserved
Eight folding screen
Chinese
Painting
민속 029049
Munja-002