This article examines the formation, circulation, and reinterpretation of paintings attributed to An Kyŏn ( , active early fifteenth century) within the broader East Asian history of connoisseurship and collecting. Although only one work, Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land (Mongyudowŏndo), is firmly accepted today as An Kyŏn’s authentic painting, approximately twenty works have been transmitted in Korea and Japan as part of his attributed oeuvre. These paintings differ significantly in style, provenance, and reception, demonstrating that “attributed works” constitute not a fixed stylistic category but a historically constructed one.
Rather than focusing solely on questions of authenticity, this study approaches An Kyŏn’s attributed works as products of shifting connoisseurial criteria, institutional frameworks, and collecting practices. The article first reassesses An Kyŏn’s artistic activities within the institutional context of the early Chosŏn court, particularly the reorganization of the Bureau of Painting (Tohwasŏ) and the patronage networks surrounding Prince Anp’yŏng. It argues that An Kyŏn’s style emerged through eclectic engagement with the Northern Chinese landscape tradition associated with Li Cheng and Guo Xi, mediated by Yuan and Jin dynasty interpretations rather than by direct access to Northern Song originals.
The following section examines the formation and circulation of the growing corpus of works attributed to An Kyŏn in the subsequent periods. First, the section analyzes works attributed to An Kyŏn from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, identifying multiple stylistic strata rather than a single, unified “An Kyŏn style.” These paintings display varied adaptations of Northern Chinese landscape conventions, reflecting the flexible and situational nature of artistic production and reception in early Chosŏn Korea. In this context, attribution functioned less as a definitive authorial claim than as a tool for organizing stylistic affinity and cultural value. Next, the section explores the transformation of An Kyŏn’s attributed oeuvre in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when expanding connoisseurship and collecting culture in Chosŏn Korea encouraged the proliferation of attributed works. Figures such as Kim Kwang-guk played a central role in systematizing Chosŏn painting through albums and critical writings, reinforcing An Kyŏn’s position as a canonical master while also incorporating new works into his attributed corpus based on provenance and connoisseurial judgment rather than stylistic coherence. The article further investigates the reception of An Kyŏn’s attributed works in Japan, where they were largely classified as kara-e (Chinese-style paintings) or kowatari-e (early imported paintings). Within this framework, Chosŏn paintings were frequently conflated with Song, Yuan, or Ming works, and their Korean origins were often obscured. Paradoxically, this suspension of national attribution contributed to the paintings’ long-term preservation in Japanese collections.
Finally, the study addresses the modern expansion of An Kyŏn’s attributed oeuvre and the emergence of authenticity debates in the twentieth century, demonstrating how modern art historical discourse reshaped the boundaries of An Kyŏn’s legacy. By situating attributed works within overlapping regimes of connoisseurship, collecting, and historiography, this article reframes An Kyŏn’s oeuvre as a dynamic historical construct and proposes a new perspective on early Chosŏn landscape painting within the interconnected visual cultures of East Asia.