Lotuses and Birds

Painted with ink and colored pigments on paper, this magnificent eight-panel folding screen boasts a continuous scene of a lotus pond with tall, luxuriant stalks of lotus flowers, buds, and leaves interspersed with pairs of birds, fish, and other aquatic creatures. Each individual panel depicts clusters of lotus plants emerging from the bottom of a pond – white lotus blossoms and buds, their petals tinged with a touch of pink at the tips, are shown in various stages of growth atop long, thin stems; large, broad lotus leaves painted in rich hues of blue, green, or golden brown turn and curl in every direction. Each panel also includes at least one pair of birds or fish: Mandarin ducks, magpies, and kingfishers fly above or perch on the lotuses; waterfowl, fish, and a crab and shrimp appear below, as if standing in or lying beneath the water of the pond. Although the vertical panels may be viewed somewhat satisfyingly as individual compositions, the continuous lotus imagery elegantly undulates across each panel to create a visually stunning panorama. This decorated screen is rife with auspicious symbolism. Wishes for marital bliss are conveyed by the pairs of birds and fish, while individual animals such as the crab, magpie, and shrimp, whose names in Chinese and Korean are reminiscent of words of good fortune, represent wishes for a life full of harmony, happiness, longevity, and prosperity. Whereas in the Buddhist and Confucian traditions, the lotus is an emblem of purity and the upright Confucian scholar, in the folk art tradition, the lotus pod’s abundance of seeds signify fecundity, and the word for lotus in both Chinese and Korean (Ch. lian, K. yŏn) is homonymous with the word for “continuity,” thereby suggesting a wish for the continuation of the family through the birth of many sons. Painted folded screens were displayed in the rooms of virtually every household in Chosŏn-period Korea, from the royal palace to the homes of aristocratic government officials and commoners. As functioning pieces of furniture, screens divided rooms, provided privacy, and deflected drafts. As works of folk art, they decorated a living space and offered hope for good fortune through their auspicious symbolism. The elegant composition, skillful painting, rich materials, and relatively tall proportions of this screen of lotuses and birds suggest that it was likely commissioned by a relatively wealthy patron for an upper class residence.