Portrait of Cho Kwan-bin

A government official wearing a black silk hat and a green round-necked robe with cloud and treasure designs is sitting with his hands together. Some unidentified anxiety and longing can be sensed in his stony expression. He is Cho Kwan-bin who served as a civil official during the reign of King Yeongjo.

This painting displays a typical characteristic of mid-18th century portraits of scholar officials. The hat he wears is slightly high and the ends of its wings are a little bit wider and rounder than those produced during King Sukjong’s time. The official robe he wears is a dark green color called galmae-saek which was a great vogue in the years of King Sukjong. Its generously flowing sleeves are quite wide and stretch richly downward. A blue lining and a jade green coat with pleats worn under this robe peek out from its right opening.

On its chest portion is a twin crane rank badge that stands for the fact its wearer was a palace-ascendable civilian official while a belt with rhinoceros horn ornaments is around his waist.

Cho Kwan-bin held several ministerial offices, all of which were applicable to senior rank two, and his last public post was as the Administrator of the Central Council (지중추부부사, 知中樞府事). A silk belt with gold ornaments should be worn for this public office but a belt with rhinoceros horn ornaments used by those one rank higher was at times applied to this level of government post. In the late Joseon period, tiger skin fur was laid on the chair. The fur was imported from China beginning in the 18th century and was a big trend up until the end of the Joseon Dynasty. His two feet are placed lightly on a rectangular foot pedestal decorated with a figured mat.

Let’s examine the face of this portrait. The entire face has been done in an apricot hue while a sort of cubic effect is engendered by a slightly darker color that has been applied to the area around his eyes and cheeks. His eyes that seem to look slightly downwards, his sparse beard, the sunken round parts under his eyebrows, and some protuberant areas under the eyes help to represent a sturdy appearance of a high official who tried to remain faithful and uphold his cause as a Neo-Confucian official of Noron while undergoing banishment several times.

The year of its production cannot be concluded as there is no information on this picture. It was presumably painted in early 1750 when he was roughly 60 years of age. This is based on comparisons of the portraits done when he was 55 and 57 that were donated alongside this portrait.