Meritorious Heroes: Allegorical Hawk Paintings in Yuan China and Early Choson Korea

Abstract

This study explores the allegorical usage of hawk painting to praise a hero with meritorious deeds in Yuan China (1271-1368) and early Choson Korea (1392-1910). Through an analysis of Yuan-dynasty poems inscribed on hawk paintings, this article demonstrates that paintings of a hawk sitting still on a tree in the woods conveyed the allegory of a hero subduing wily beings, such as rabbits and foxes. Moreover, Yuan paintings of a hawk and a bear (yingxiong(sic)) employed a Chinese rebus and represented the animals as heroes, comparing them to historical heroic and loyal figures. This article then turns to Choson Korea, where two types of hawk paintings reflected the Korean reception of Yuan counterparts. One was the painting of a hawk sitting still, which indicated the hero's readiness for future achievements. Another, with the motif of a rabbit caught in the hawk's talons, emphasized the hero's successful achievements and gained popularity through the late Choson dynasty. The Chinese and Korean allegories of heroic contributions emerged in response to complicated politics, as the Yuan government comprised multiple ethnic groups and the early Ming and early Choson were newly established after the fall of previous dynasties. For the same reason, the hawk-hero allegory began to lose its relevance over time, and hawk paintings came to take on rather mundane meanings.