Shin Saimdang was a brilliant artist of the mid-Joseon Dynasty and the mother of Yulgok. With exceptional artistic sensibility, she was well-versed in all genres of the arts and literature including poetry, painting, and calligraphy, but she was especially talented in painting.
Shin Saimdang was a self-taught artist who began painting at the age of 7, and she was praised by Yulgok’s teacher who said she was comparable to An Gyeon, a preeminent painter during the reign of King Sejong the Great. Shin Saimdang often painted insects, grapes, plum blossoms, and orchids, and there is a story that a chicken pecked at the insects she had painted because they looked so realistic. At the Ojukheon Municipal Museum, her paintings : chochungdo, are on display. These paintings featuring flowers and insects as well as fruit and vegetable provides a glimpse of her ability to depict the subject delicately.
Her artistic talent ran in the blood. Her eldest daughter, Yi Mae-chang, and fourth son, Yi Wu, were exceptional at painting and calligraphy, and her third son, Yulgok, a brilliant scholar and master of Neo-Confucianism in the Joseon Dynasty, was also lauded for his artistry. Yulgok said that “she painted grapes and no one in the world could ever emulate her.”
Ojukheon House, designated as Treasure No. 165, was Shin Saimdang’s parents’ home, where Yulgok was born and raised. It was given its name because of the presence of Ojuk, a black bamboo, near it. It is the oldest house in Korea and is considered invaluable as it sheds light on the architectural style from when it was built.
All buildings except for Ojukheon and sarangchae have been restored. The oldest building and the restored buildings have become a symbol of the Ojukheon Municipal Museum, which bridges the temporal gap between them.
Shin Saimdang and Yulgok Yi Yi are always close to us, being the faces on the 5,000-won and 50,000-won bills as the world’s first-ever mother and son to both appear on banknotes. The place depicted in the background of the 5,000-won bill is Ojukheon House, which is further proof of its immense historical and cultural significance.
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