A favored subject in narrative figure paintings, the Four Sages depicts historical figures from the beginning of the Han dynasty, the four aged recluses featuring beards and eyebrows in gray. A dramatic contrast between retreat from and entry into officialdom in the story has become a representational theme since the late Han dynasty. Among surviving works of the theme is The Four Sages of Shang Shan by Ma Yuan from the Song dynasty. The earliest painting on scroll presents a particular arrangement of figures, a marked outdoor landscape setting, and an image of playing Go the board game under pine trees, the compositional features which have persisted in later works from the East Asia. In particular, most paintings of the Four Sages from the Joseon dynasty, considered from surviving ones and literary accounts, go with the Ma Yuan precedent, taking on the motif of playing go. Besides to the Ma Yuan scroll, the comparison of the Joseon works to other contemporaneous examples from China proves valid especially when it comes to the other figures, away from the chessboard, drawn as gathering mushrooms or accepting an invitation. On the other hand, however, the Joseon Four Sages show some originality by adding a sleeping figure and a servant boy brewing tea. The distinctive qualities of the Joseon Four Sages become more evident while considering what they have meant and how they were used in the Joseon society.