Game of Dominoes

A game of dominoes between men and women (hyeop-chang-gol-pae-ha-go). Hyeopchanggolpaehago translates as men playing dominoes with their companions. Hyeopchang means playing with one’s companions; golpae, dominoes. This is one of the most colourful (olive green; yellow, blue, teal and rust-red) and detailed scenes of all the paintings in this collection (the candlelight from the lantern, the low, flat-topped table with decorated aprons and feet, the tea table with folding legs, the teapot with the upturned handle and the small drinking bowls, etc.). The women show a liberality of behavior that refers to a sociability linked to leisure, also visible in the make-up, emphasized by the contrast of colors in the female and male faces.
The glasses worn by two of the characters are a touch of realism to remind us how these images seek to reflect authentic Korean customs and traditions, rather than resort to anachronistic stereotypes.
Carla Alferes Pinto in the Catalogue Portuguese Presence in Asia, Museu do Oriente, p. 440-442

The artist Kim Jun-geun was a Korean Christian painter who worked during the last two decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Having adopted the artistic name Kisan, he was best known for over three hundred watercolours depicting local folklore and customs, and in 1892 for illustrating the Korean translation of John Bunyan's famous work, The Pilgrim’s Progress.