Kho Youenhee

10.18399/acta.2021.24.1.003

A Dream Journey to Peach Blossom Spring 夢遊挑源圖 sich’uk 詩輔 (shizhou in Chinese) An Kyon 安堅 Prince Anp’yong 安平大君

This study focuses on the cultural and social context of A Dream Journey to Peach Blossom Spring (Mongyu towŏn to [inline-graphic 01]) the only extant work by An Kyŏn [inline-graphic 02], the best-known painter of early Chosŏn, to show the manner of its production and function. The painting was a pictorial addition to the sich'uk[inline-graphic 03], a mounted scroll of poems, created to praise Prince Anp'yŏng ([inline-graphic 04]) and interpret the significance of his dream in which he visited Peach Blossom Spring, a legendary place invented by the Chinese poet Tao Qian [inline-graphic 05]. The prince presented a dream record, an accepted literary form at a time when there was a general belief in the prophetic meaning of dreams, and required twenty-one celebrated writers to compose eulogistic poems to accompany the painting, which served as a visual description of his dream. The poets wrote in such a way as to allow the viewer to repeatedly imagine the Peach Blossom Spring. As such, the painting functioned as visual inspiration for the twenty-one writers and became an ornament for their poems. By revealing the process of making the sich'uk and the effect of the dream record, this study re-evaluates the content, style, and composition of A Dream Journey to Peach Blossom Spring.