Help with Chinese seal on old(?) painting

Discussion in 'Art' started by journeymagazine, Nov 26, 2025.

  1. journeymagazine

    journeymagazine Well-Known Member

    I found this at my local thrift store this morning. It looks nice, but what made me want to fjnd out more about it was how heavy it is for only being 27" H x 21" W ? Also the wood appears to be black; could it be ironwood (I think thats the name - I've had African statues with dark wood & heavy weight and I think that's what it was called)? - it also has small spaces with a solid wood all along the frame - ebony, maybe?
    And on the back it shows someone had it professionally framed and paid for uv protection glass.
    Can anyone tell who the artist is?
    Any ideas or thoughts on the painting and/or frame?
    Thank you !

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    Any Jewelry likes this.
  2. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Charming painting, it is Korean, as is the seal. Looks like a village festival.
     
  3. Marote

    Marote Well-Known Member

    Here's the same scene, but with a different seal, saying it's Chinese
    https://www.etsy.com/listing/4329304866/beautiful-vintage-chinese-musical
    upload_2025-11-26_16-50-19.png

    And here's the same scene
    https://www.rubylane.com/item/1356998-1583/Korean-Village-Celebration-Festival-Asian-Watercolor and now it's Korean
    upload_2025-11-26_16-51-24.png

    And Google Lens shows another one, linking to a page on a Kenyan site, with Japanese text, but the site isn't working... But the text that's visible with Lens, translates to: Reproduction: Korean Art, Korea, Yi Ju-seok, Genres, Paper, Hanging Scroll, Framed
     
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  4. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    The Ruby Lane seller is right. The people are dressed in Korean 'hanbok'.
     
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  5. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Traditional Korean hanbok, the woman on the right in the green skirt is wearing one of these:

    Hanbok, Korea.jpg

    There are a few men dressed like this in the background, also Korean hanbok:

    Hanbok, men.jpg
     
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  6. Marote

    Marote Well-Known Member

    According to Google, the text on the banner is in Chinese, and it translates to:
    Agriculture is the foundation of the world
     
  7. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    That is the thing with East Asian characters. Google probably can't tell the difference between Korean, Chinese, or Japanese. They look the same when written, because characters are symbols. However, it sounds differently in all three languages. In this case Korean.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2025
    Marote and Potteryplease like this.
  8. Potteryplease

    Potteryplease Well-Known Member

    Gotta love the grandiosity of that!
     
    Marote likes this.
  9. journeymagazine

    journeymagazine Well-Known Member

    Any idea who the artist of mine was?
    Some of the brush strokes on the trees look lkke watercolor?
     
  10. Roaring20s

    Roaring20s Well-Known Member

    Last edited: Nov 26, 2025
    Marote and Any Jewelry like this.
  11. bosko69

    bosko69 Well-Known Member

    One of my personal 'household' gods is the honey bee.I put 'em right up there w/ all the big invisible male deities in the sky (maybe even a sliver above).
    PS-Recent history lesson re: going to war w/ nature-Chairman Mao's 1958 campaign to exterminate sparrows as part of the broader "Four Pests" campaign.
     
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  12. 2manybooks

    2manybooks Well-Known Member

    Based on what Marote found, the artist may be Yi Ju-seok.
     
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  13. journeymagazine

    journeymagazine Well-Known Member

    Thank you - and thank you everyone!
     
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