This paper analyzes the purpose of publication and contents of the third volume of Jie zi yuan hua zhuan (The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting) 芥子園畵傳 as well as the stylistic characteristics of the copied paintings inserted in this manual of painting. It aims to investigate the changes in bird-and-flower paintings of the late Joseon Dynasty, which were brought from China by the introduction of Jie zi yuan hua zhuan.
The third volume of Jie zi yuan hua zhuan, the most representative painting manual of the Qing Dynasty, was an expensive multi-colored print which was published in Jieziyuan 芥子園, Jinling 金陵 in 1701, in response to the requests of potential users. This volume was financed by Shen Xin-you 沈心友, son-in-law of Li Yu 李漁, and was edited by Wang Gai 王槪, Wang Shi 王蓍, and Wang Lie 王臬, painters of the Nanjing 南京 art circle. With detailed presentation of techniques of bird-and-flower paintings, examples by great masters, and instructions on the use of paints, this painting manual served as the best introduction for the learners of bird-and-flower paintings. The eighty copies of the paintings by great masters of all time, which were included in the second book entitled Gu jin zhu ming ren tu hua 古今諸名人圖畵, reflected the Ming-Qing style of bird-and-flower paintings, and some of the copies were related with Shih zhu zhai shu hua pu 十竹齋書畵譜 (1627 or 1633) as well as the painting style of Qing painter Yun Shou-ping 惲壽平 (1633~1690).
The introduction of Jie zi yuan hua zhuan to Joseon in the 18th century brought considerable changes to bird-and-flower paintings of the time. Painters of birdand-flower paintings, including scholar-painter Gang Se-hwang 姜世晃 (1712~1791) and Sim Sa-jeong 沈師正 (1707~1769) who led the new trend of bird-and-flower paintings in the late Joseon Dynasty and Sin Myeong-yeon 申命衍 (1809~1886) who was the master of this genre in the final days of the Joseon Dynasty, applied the lessons from this manual in their paintings. Sim Sa-jeong and Gang Se-hwang, two of the first users of the manual, saw the first edition in 1701. Among painters of the late Joseon Dynasty, Sim Sa-jeong tried the hardest to imitate paintings in this manual. It is likely that these scholar-painters were active in the imitation of paintings in Jie zi yuan hua zhuan as they thought that these paintings reflected the latest trend of Chinese bird-and-flower paintings. It is significant that these painters not only imitated the painting manual but also developed their own style from it.
In the case of royal court painters, the imitation of Jie zi yuan hua zhuan was tried by only a few painters including Kim Hui-gyeom 金喜謙 (the 1706’s~1763’s) and his son Kim Hu-sin 金厚臣 (1735~?), Kim Deuk-sin 金得臣 (1754~1822), Jang Seungeop 張承業 (1843~1897). Maybe it is because the first edition of this manual was not distributed widely enough to reach painters of the royal court in general.
This manual of painting made a valuable contribution to the establishment of a new trend of bird-and-flower paintings in the late Joseon Dynasty, which saw the diversification of painting motifs, the transition from ink painting to light-colored painting, and the emergence of boneless bird-and-flower paintings as well as paintings of grotesque rocks, flowers, grass and insects.