Wooden Lantern: Hwangmyo Nongjeopdo Traditional Painting Motif
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“A small light shelters a long wish, held gently within wood and image.”
This wooden lantern presents a reproduced Hwangmyo Nongjeopdo motif, an auspicious painting traditionally attributed to Kim Hong-do, whose works are known for translating everyday scenes into images of layered cultural meaning.
At first glance, the composition appears gentle and unassuming: a yellow cat, a butterfly, flowering plants, and a calm landscape. Yet within Joseon visual culture, each element carries a precise symbolic role. The yellow cat represents a seventy-year-old elder, while the butterfly signifies eighty years of age. Together, they form a visual benediction for long life, expressed not through numbers or text, but through living forms.
Beneath the cat rests a rock, one of the Sipjangsaeng—the Ten Symbols of Longevity—traditionally associated with immortality and endurance. The rock anchors the scene, suggesting stability and permanence beneath the cycles of life represented by animals and plants.
Nearby blooms the dianthus flower (seokjuk-hwa). Its name echoes celebratory sounds in Chinese characters, and it was historically used to express wishes for longevity and good fortune. The flower’s warm reddish tone was also associated with youthful vitality and a healthy complexion, reinforcing the painting’s concern with sustained well-being across the stages of life.
A particularly telling detail is the coexistence of seasons. Dianthus is a summer-blooming flower, yet it appears here within a spring landscape. This intentional overlap is not accidental. By allowing different seasons to meet within a single frame, the painting extends its wish beyond a specific moment in time. Longevity, in this context, is not bound to one phase of life, but imagined as continuous and enduring.
When this image is placed within the lantern and illuminated, its symbolic language becomes atmospheric rather than declarative. Light passes through the scene gently, softening outlines and allowing the imagery to merge with the surrounding space. The blessing does not announce itself; it resides quietly, shaping the mood of its environment through presence rather than assertion.
The lantern itself is constructed from wood in a square form, with panelled sides that recall traditional Korean window structures. This architectural framing lends order and containment to the imagery, allowing the painting to remain composed and balanced. A handle at the top permits the lantern to be carried or lightly suspended, reinforcing its role as a mobile bearer of meaning.
The artwork panels are printed reproductions of traditional paintings, applied as visual surfaces rather than original hand-painted works. This approach allows the motif to function as a vessel of cultural symbolism, integrated into an object designed to mediate light and space.
Powered by a 9V battery, the lantern can be placed freely without reliance on fixed light sources. Yet illumination is secondary to intention. The lantern’s primary role is not to brighten, but to hold a wish—to offer a quiet image of longevity, vitality, and well-being that reveals itself slowly, over time.
In this lantern, blessing is not spoken aloud.
It remains, patiently, in light.
*Battery is not included.
Dimensions
- Width- 10cm (3.94 inch)
- Depth- 10 cm (3.94 inch)
- Height- 12cm (4.72 inch)
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