As Lovely as a Flower
This ch’aekkado harbors many different symbols, each placed there to tell its own story. When faced with a painting such as this, where do you start “reading”? There is no clear point of departure, so we will go through the painting bit by bit, starting with a leisurely stroll through a flower garden.
The delicate pink flowers in the yellow vase are apricot blossoms. The flower goes by several names in Korean: salkukkot 살구꽃, haenghwa 杏花, and kŭpchehwa 及第花. The latter means “the flower of passing the state examinations”. Why that name? Each year the king hosted a banquet for all those who had passed the state examinations at the highest level. This banquet would be held in the second month of the lunar year (late February or early March). That is the time when the first blossoms start blooming on the trees, and apricot trees bloom the earliest. The banquet is therefore also referred to as “the banquet underneath the apricot trees”, which led to apricot blossoms being associated with passing the examinations and obtaining an official rank. So, depicting apricots among books and brushes would be to show off your scholarly competence.
In the middle we see bulbs of narcissi in a red bowl. In texts on connoisseurship from Ming China (1368-1644), narcissi are marked as essential for enhancing the scholar’s studio, because their scent would foster concentration and relaxation.
The last flowers are the chrysanthemums in the dark blue vase. Chrysanthemums are some of the most beloved flowers in all of East Asia. That is because they bloom until late autumn, even after they have endured the early frost. The flower is therefore seen as a symbol of integrity and dignity, the essential virtues for any noble man.