"Gwakbunyang Haengnakdo" (Guo Fenyang’s Enjoyment of Life) from the collection of Germany's Grassi Museum of Ethnography will be returned to the European country with the completion of restoration work in Korea. Seen is the work on March 11 as shown to the media after its restoration by the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation. (Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation)

By Lee Dasom

"Gwakbunyang Haengnakdo" (Guo Fenyang’s Enjoyment of Life), a work from the late Joseon Dynasty owned by the Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig, Germany, will be returned to the Western European country after undergoing restoration in Korea.

The Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation on March 11 unveiled the painting to the media after its refurbishment at the Jung-Jae Conservation Center in Seoul's Dongjak-gu District.

As part of its support program for the preservation, restoration and utilization of Korean heritage abroad launched in 2013, the foundation completed the restoration in 15 months from November 2022.

Using a style popular in the late Joseon period, the painting depicts Guo Ziyi, a wealthy landowner during the Tang Dynasty of China, enjoying a lavish banquet in his silver years with his family at his mansion.

The eight-panel work is similar in composition and layout to a byeongpung (extending folding screen). The first three panels show the scenery of the house, women and children playing in the front yard, the fourth through sixth a feast, and the seventh through eighth a pond and nugak (upper chamber).

Creating and collecting this type of painting to wish for wealth and prosperity were popular among courtiers and civilians of the late Joseon period.

Acquired by the museum in 1902 from the German art dealer H. Sanger, the painting during the separation process had parts of the first and eighth sections cut off. Afterwards, only the painted parts were stored in Germany until the foundation restored the work in 2022.

The foundation said, "We will keep doing our best to ensure that our cultural heritage abroad is fully preserved and widely introduced in their host countries."

The restored painting will be displayed to the public in Germany after its return.

dlektha0319@korea.kr