Plum blossoms

In these two paintings, originally part of an eight-panel screen, plum trees take flight across the paper. The rough and exuberantly painted trunk and branches of the trees contrast with the delicate red and pink plum blossoms. Cho Huiryong wrote of his obsession with flowering plums:

Surrounded by the large screens of flowering plums that I have painted, I use an inkstone and an ink stick decorated with flowering plums. I have composed a hundred poems on flowering plums, and have further expressed my obsession by hanging a plaque identifying my studio as “The Pavilion of One Hundred Flowering Plum Poems.” When thirsty, I appease my thirst with plum blossom tea.

Born into a military family of lower rank, Cho Huiryong worked as a minor court official. Even though he had a special talent for painting and poetry, his works were often criticized for being flamboyant and decorative because he belonged to the middle class (jung‘in).