Detail

Human’s desire to have a long and healthy life resulted in the development of unique symbols and culture in East Asia, which even led to them being incorporated as motifs of some major artworks. Collectively, they are referred to as the “ten longevity symbols” in Korea appearing as elements of nature that symbolize eternal youth. Korea Post is issuing the commemorative stamp series Folding Screen with the Ten Longevity Symbols featuring the artwork that the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee‘s bequest to the National Museum of Korea. The ten longevity symbols, which include the sun, clouds, water, rocks, mountains, pine trees, bamboo, lingzhi mushrooms, turtles, cranes, and deer, were featured in various artworks from paintings and handicrafts to folding screens. In particular, this folding screen features peaches of immortality, enriching the painting with more colors and subject matter. If you take a close look, in the middle of the painting on the ten screens, you can even see lingzhi mushrooms of immortality growing by the pine trees standing on mounds. There is also a herd of deer that idly strolls around in various parts of the screens. Appearing throughout the screens, the peaches of immortality represent the Heavenly World of the immortal (sinseon) as a popular theme appearing in paintings depicting the ten longevity symbols. Since the folding screen visualizes the imaginary Heavenly World, the artwork takes on the form of a natural landscape painting, characterized using vivid and thick blue and green pigments to portray rocks and mountains as well as emphasize the beauty of colors. Who drew this artwork in late nineteenth-century Joseon is unknown, but it is believed to be the work of a court painter of Dohwaseo (Royal Academy of Painting) based on its details and use of elegant colors. According to literature, paintings of the ten longevity symbols were given as a New Year`s gift from a king to his senior statesmen in the beginning of January and often used in palace banquets, vividly portraying the desire for a long and healthy life. This commemorative stamp series is decorated with gold leaf, adding the sense of vibrancy and elegance. We hope you enjoy the painting that embodies the features of the royal decorative paintings of the Joseon dynasty.