Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 19. (Budapest, 2000)
Ildikó NAGY: Copies of Murals from Anak Tomb No. 3 in the Korean Collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts
resentations of celestial bodies and cloud patterns. The representation of the cock bore a special cultic meaning in Koguryo as the symbol of subservient respect to superiors (Kor. sungyae). The cloud motif 15 drawn with energetic wavy lines was adapted as a variant of the Han-Dynasty Chinese cloud motif into Koguryo decorative elements. The wavy line of each cumulus ended in a hook at both ends. According to Korean interpretation they shaped the head and the tail of a bird bent down, respectively. The earliest type of this motif can be encountered in Tongsu's Tomb where the horizontal „S" line ended in a bird's head and tail on both ends. Similar cloud decorations can be found in Ch'onwangjishin-ch'ong, and tombs Anak No. 1 and 2. In later Koguryo tombs with murals the cloud motif changed so much, see e.g. Kangso Jung-myo, that it can be encountered only on the territory of Koguryo as a Korean speciality in Asia. When investigating the occurrence of the different decorative elements, we can come to the conclusion that the tombs with cloud motifs were established in the Early Period while the tombs with trailer and leaf decoration belong to the Later Period. Last but not least, we find wooden column motifs with bearers (Kor. mokjú) painted in the four corners of the tomb chambers as a new decorative element in the Koguryo tombs with murals as if maintaining the atmosphere of the real living milieu even inside the tomb chambers. See e.g. Anak Tomb No. 1 and 2, the Lotus Flower Tomb in T'aesong-ri (Kor. T'aesong-ri Yonhwa-ch'ong), the Great Tomb in Ansongdong (Kor. Ansongdong Dae-ch'ong) and the Saints' Shrine Tomb (Kor. Kamshin-ch 'ong). As is well known, there are several murals in the tombs established in the Early Period which were painted by Chinese masters who had come from Yodong (Chinese Liaotung) to Koguryo. Such murals have survived in the tombs of Naknang or Chinese Lolang. e.g. Tongsu's Tomb, in Kamshin-ch 'ong and in the vicinity of Dokhungri and Susan-ri. The figures depicted in a composed scene according to concrete motivation are depicted with finer and more rhythmical brushstrokes showing the traditions of Chinese painting and this style differs from that of the Koguryo murals breathing a stiffer and more settled painted atmosphere. Here we should quote the example of the monumental procession depicted on the walls of the Side Passage of Tongsu's Tomb (111. 17). Here the participants in the procession follow each other in strict military order arranging the participants in perspectival composition that had not been shown in earlier representations. This spatial composition has not survived in Later Period Koguryo tombs, see e.g. Sashin-ch 'ong (The Tomb of the Four Divine Animals) or Ssangyongch 'ong (The Tomb with Columns in Pairs). On these later murals the characters of the scenes are represented in stiff poses with accurate delineation. The picture area has become more airy as the figures are depicted in two dimensions and not in spatial composition. The perspectivist representation of objects on a flat surface is carried out from two points of view: the objects closer to the painter are represented from a lower viewpoint upwards (worm's eye-view) while the objects further away from the painter are represented from a higher viewpoint downwards (bird's eye-view). East Asian painting was characterized by the representation of a flat background. As the depth of space cannot be made perceptible in two dimensions, the figures and objects in the foreground are represented in profile.
