Painted in the mid-sixteenth century, Gathering of Officials from the Ministry of Taxation (c. 1550) commemorates a social event attended by government officials from the eponymous ministry, which was responsible for finance and taxation during the Joseon period. In addition to visualizing social customs and events of the time, the painting also provides valuable information about individuals who are not documented in Annals of the Joseon Dynasty (朝鮮王朝實錄). Furthermore, with its emphasis on the natural landscape and use of reverse perspective, the painting demonstrates some of the key changes in Joseon art of the mid-sixteenth century.

In Korea, the tradition of making paintings to commemorate social gatherings of the literati dates back to the Goryeo Dynasty. But most extant examples of such paintings are from the Joseon Dynasty, when such gatherings became a popular way of building camaraderie among government officials. In most such paintings, the title is written at the top, indicating the nature of the gathering, with the actual scene of the gathering in the center and a list of attendees at the bottom. Although the title is no longer present on this work, we can infer from the scene and the list of attendees that it depicts a gathering of officials who were responsible for the practical affairs of the Ministry of Taxation.

One notable difference of this work compared to most contemporaneous paintings of literati gatherings is the strong emphasis on the gathering itself, rather than the surrounding landscape. In many similar paintings, such as Gathering of Officials from the Office of Censors (1540) and Gathering of Officials from the Ministry of War (1541), both of which are designated as Treasures, the actual gathering occupies only a small portion of the scene, which is dominated by the huge natural landscape in the background. Here, however, the background and the gathering are given equal importance, allowing for a more detailed depiction of the attendees’ actions and facial expressions. This increased emphasis on the gathering may have influenced Gathering of Officials at Lotus Pavilion (c. 1560), which is also designated as a Treasure.

Although the exact date of Gathering of Officials from the Ministry of Taxation is not recorded, it is estimated to have been produced in the mid-sixteenth century, based on the information recorded in the list of attendees at the bottom. The list comprehensively documents the names, courtesy names, positions, places of family origin, and fathers’ names and positions of eight current and former officials from the Ministry of Taxation.

The listed attendees, from right to left, are An Hong, Yi Jisin, Kang Uk, Shin Huibok, Yu Jin, Kim Ik, Shin Yeoeup, and Hwang Junryang.

* Birth and death dates are taken from the Korean Database of Historical People
(http://people.aks.ac.kr/index.aks)

One of the attendees was Hwang Junryang, whose name also appears in various historical records from the time. According to Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, Hwang Junryang served as Section Chief or Assistant Section Chief of the Ministry of Taxation. This is confirmed in the “List of Compilers in the Office of State Records” from Annals of King Injong vol. 2 (prepared in the ninth month of 1550), which also lists Hwang Junryang as the Assistant Section Chief of the Ministry of Taxation. Furthermore, both Annals of King Jungjong and Annals of King Injong report that Hwang Junryang also served as Assistant Compiler in the Office of State Records (documented in Annals of King Jungjong vol. 105).

Another known name from the list is Shin Huibok, whose epitaph (參贊愼公神道碑銘) can be found in volume 24 of Collected Writings of Gwon Sangha (寒水齋集). According to the epitaph, Shin Huibok served as Section Chief of the Ministry of Taxation, and also worked in the Office of Horses for the Inner Palace in 1550, which accords with the information provided in the list.

Based on all of these records, this painting is estimated to have been produced around 1550, when several of the listed names are known to have been serving in the Ministry of Taxation.

In the Joseon Dynasty, the Ministry of Taxation was the government agency responsible for managing the nation’s finances, akin to today’s Ministry of Economy and Finance. According to Complete Code of National Governance (經國大典), the Ministry of Taxation handled matters related to the household census, taxation, land, and food production, all of which were essential for the operation of the state. The practical affairs of the Ministry of Taxation were handled by three Section Chiefs and three Assistant Section Chiefs. Gathering of Officials from the Ministry of Taxation features both former and current Section Chiefs and Assistant Section Chiefs, indicating that these officials, both past and present, came together to foster camaraderie and then commemorated the occasion by commissioning this painting.

However, there is an interesting discrepancy between the list of eight people who attended and the painted scene itself, which clearly shows nine individuals at the gathering (along with various attendants outside the room). In the image, the eight officials named in the list are presumably the ones wearing black official’s hats and official robes with round collars, seated on the floor in a semi-circular arrangement. The ninth individual is seated at a higher position and prominently placed in the center of the painting, wearing a different type of black hat and receiving greetings from the others. Although it is not possible to positively identify this person, he was likely a higher-ranking official from the Ministry of Taxation who joined the gathering of Section Chiefs and Assistant Section Chiefs. All of these details make Gathering of Officials from the Ministry of Taxation a fascinating artifact that sheds new light on both the characteristics of sixteenth-century Joseon paintings and the social customs of government officials.