Grapevineearly 1800s · Study 2015.510

Context from the museum

July is the season of the ripening deep blue grapes, and also the month when the monsoon season begins in Korea. To the accompaniment of stormy summer wind, grape vines make a spectacular full circle across the surface of this eight-panel folding screen. The artist employed a variety of ink tones to create a sense of swift movement of grapevines amid turbulent storms. Since their first introduction to the Korean peninsula around the 7th century through the Silk Road, grapes were used as artistic motifs. Artists embellished the surface of mother-of-pearl lacquer boxes or blue-and-white porcelain, while scholar-poets composed poems about the luscious sweet sourness of green grapes. By the late 19th century, grapes became the icon of fertility: the fruit grows in large clusters of many individual grapes, evoking the image of a stable clan with many descendants.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

A detail to notice

Grapes in premodern East Asia symbolize many children.

Observation supplied by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected image measurement for Grapevine is 345 cm wide and 100.5 cm high, equivalent to approximately 135.8 × 39.6 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 3.43:1. The rectangular bounding area is 3.47 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 115.0% of the span before adding a frame. That exceeds the example wall width, so a smaller reference wall would not reproduce the recorded scale. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With Grapevine in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, eight-panel folding screen; ink on paper, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this horizontal composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 345 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?