Fisherman and scholars in a landscape

This type of casual riverside scene of fishermen and scholars became popular in the eighteenth century. Such genre scenes were often the subject of eight- or ten-panel folding screens. The work shown here was originally a panel from a set and was later remounted as a scroll.

The group of gentlemen in this composition has come by boat to spend a leisurely summer day by the river. The lively feeling of the painting is created by the bustling activity of the fishermen in the foreground who are selecting freshly caught fish from the net and preparing food—their actions strongly contrast with the calm and leisurely composure of the gentlemen. Additional vignettes in the foreground—a young man carrying a jar filled with water, an older man with outstretched arms to receive the heavy jar, and two children playing with fish—enhance the painting’s sense of energy and immediacy. The figures and their clothing were rendered with confident brush lines and a sense of humor, in a manner similar to that of the genre paintings of Kim Deuksin (1754–1822), who was indebted to the gifted genre painter Kim Hongdo (1745–after 1806).