Seven Jeweled Mountainlate 1800s · Study 1989.6

Context from the museum

With a bird’s-eye view, this ten-panel folding screen portrays the famous Seven Jeweled Mountain 칠보산 in North Korea. Ancient volcanic eruptions shaped the mountain’s unique and awe-inspiring terrain such as phallic-shaped pillars (panel #5, from the right); a large flat-topped, steep-sided cliff (panels #7 and #8), and a rugged mountain composed of metamorphic and igneous rocks (panels #9 and #10). The tradition of landscape painting that details actual natural sites and captures their topographic features in Korea began in the 1700s and continued onward. While such natural wonders were beloved as popular destinations for tourism and pilgrimage, after the Korean War (1950–53), these sites in North Korea are no longer accessible to the outside world. This folding screen detailing the mountain’s distinctive topography feeds our imagination and longing for such an unattainable place.

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

A detail to notice

Featuring a spectacular panoramic view and topographical details, this ten-panel folding screen is an excellent 19th-century version of the Korean “true-view” landscape painting tradition.

Observation supplied by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected painting only measurement for Seven Jeweled Mountain is 433.4 cm wide and 154.7 cm high, equivalent to approximately 170.6 × 60.9 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 2.80:1. The rectangular bounding area is 6.70 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 144.5% 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 Seven Jeweled Mountain in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, ten-panel screen; ink and color on silk, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this horizontal composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 433.4 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?