“Chukhyang – ‘Bamboo Fragrance’ – kisaeng Poet and Painter of 19th Century Chosŏn Korea”,

The present article reconstructs inasmuch as primary sources allow, the life and artistic achievements of Chukhyang, a kisaeng-poet-painter of 19th century Korea, via philologically tracing and reconstructing, in primary sources, written accounts by persons who met her or knew her works of art. Chukhyang’s contacts with important Korean artists of the nineteenth century – like Sin Wi and Kim Chŏnghŭi – are already well known in academic circles, but in this article, I produce new evidence with regard to the artistic and poetic contribution made by Chukhyang in literary and intellectual circles of mid-19th century Korea. In my article, I quote new sources on Chukhyang, through which I am able to confirm her artistic talent, as well as discover the existence of a poetry collection written by her - unfortunately not surviving today. Being one of only four women poets anthologized in the most important Korean poetry collection of the nineteenth century, the P’ungyo samsŏn (which contains her only three surviving poems) is but a confirmation of the appreciation and favourable reception of her poetic talent among her peers. She is also quoted by the scholar Han Chaerak as one of the most famous beauties in the glittering and at the same time intellectual world of kisaeng in Pyongyang.