Who and what appear on Korean banknotes?

Meet the people on Korea’s four current banknotes and identify their buildings, paintings, texts and astronomical motifs, while keeping portrait identities separate from artwork attributions.

Who and what appear on Korean banknotes?

Official Bank of Korea 50,000-won front sample showing Shin Saimdang.

A building and plum blossoms appear on the 1,000-won note; a circular astronomical instrument appears on the 10,000-won note. Korean banknotes offer more to look at than the face in the portrait. Start with the person's name, then look for the buildings, paintings, texts and instruments around them.

The Bank of Korea currently presents four banknote denominations: 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 50,000 won. Their basic colours are blue, reddish yellow, green and yellow, respectively. The portraits are Toegye Yi Hwang, Yulgok Yi I, King Sejong and Shin Saimdang. Yi Hwang and Yi I were scholars; the four people are not all kings. This article follows the representative design motifs listed in the Bank of Korea's current banknote guide, rather than trying to catalogue every small printed element.

The cover and inline images are official Bank of Korea sample designs, not photographs of actual banknotes. They carry the Korean sample label 보기 or the word SPECIMEN.

1,000 won: Toegye Yi Hwang, Myeongnyundang and plum blossoms

The portrait on the blue 1,000-won note is Toegye Yi Hwang. The Bank of Korea identifies him as a scholar and lists Myeongnyundang (명륜당) and plum blossoms among the principal motifs on the front. Look away from the face towards the building and you can make out a tiled roof and flowering branches. Reading the portrait, building and plant as separate subjects makes the composition easier to follow.

Yi Hwang, Myeongnyundang and plum blossoms on the front; Gyesangjeonggeodo on the reverse.

The representative painting on the reverse is Gyesangjeonggeodo (계상정거도). Look for a building among mountains, water and trees. Keep the building name Myeongnyundang on the front separate from the painting title on the reverse. A building appearing on both sides does not mean the same named building has been repeated.

This note is a useful place to distinguish a scholar's name, a building's name and a painting's title. The presence of Yi Hwang's portrait beside a painting does not establish that he painted it. The Bank of Korea's motif list identifies the subjects used in the design.

5,000 won: Yulgok Yi I and a painting attributed to Shin Saimdang

The portrait on the reddish-yellow 5,000-won note is Yulgok Yi I. The principal motifs on the front are Ojukheon and black bamboo, or ojuk (오죽). Here, the building and bamboo matter as named design subjects. How to visit Ojukheon is a separate question from how to read the banknote.

Yi I, Ojukheon and black bamboo on the front; watermelon and cockscomb on the reverse.

The reverse uses a chochungdo, a painting of plants and insects, with watermelon and cockscomb as its subjects. In the sample, the round watermelon fruits and rising plant stems are good places to begin looking. The building and bamboo on the front are separate motifs from this plant painting on the reverse.

One character before the artist's name matters. The Bank of Korea labels the work 傳신사임당 초충도(수박과 맨드라미): a plants-and-insects painting of watermelon and cockscomb traditionally attributed to Shin Saimdang. 傳 marks a transmitted attribution, not an unqualified statement of established authorship, so it should not disappear when the title is copied or translated. Yi I is the person portrayed on the front; the reverse painting is attributed to Shin Saimdang. The portrait's identity and the painting's attribution are different.

10,000 won: King Sejong, a screen painting, a text and an astronomical instrument

The green 10,000-won note portrays King Sejong. The principal motifs on its front include Irworobongdo (일월오봉도) and Yongbieocheonga (용비어천가). The name Irworobongdo refers to the sun, moon and five peaks. Look for those forms in the image behind the person, treating the portrait and its painted background as separate parts of the design.

King Sejong on the front and the honcheonui on the reverse of the 10,000-won note.

Yongbieocheonga is the title of a written work. The front therefore combines a face with both a painting and a textual motif. You need not struggle to read every tiny character in the sample: recognising that person, painting and text share one design is a useful first step.

The representative motif on the reverse is the honcheonui (혼천의), an armillary sphere. The Bank of Korea specifically describes it as part of the honcheonsigye, an astronomical clock. Find the overlapping circular rings to recognise an astronomical instrument rather than a painting like those on the front. This is a named principal motif, not a claim that the entire reverse consists of this instrument alone.

The grouping invites an interest in culture beyond the portrait. It does not, by itself, mean Sejong personally painted the pictured work or made the particular instrument depicted. Keep the person's identity and the subjects' names distinct.

50,000 won: Shin Saimdang's portrait and paintings by different artists

The yellow 50,000-won note portrays Shin Saimdang. The Bank of Korea lists Mukpododo (묵포도도), an ink-grape painting, and the aubergine image from Chochungdosubyeong (초충도수병), a screen with plants-and-insects motifs, among the representative motifs on the front. In the Korean label 가지그림, 가지 means the vegetable aubergine, not a tree branch. Follow the titles to distinguish the grape and aubergine subjects.

The main paintings on the reverse are Wolmaedo (월매도) and Pungjukdo (풍죽도). KOMSCO's explanation of the two works identifies Wolmaedo as a work by Eo Mong-ryong and Pungjukdo as a work by Yi Jeong. It describes the former as a plum tree standing against a round moon and the latter as bamboo blowing in the wind.

Wolmaedo and Pungjukdo on the reverse of the 50,000-won note.

In the sample design, look at the dark plum branches and the paler bamboo layered behind them. The two paintings share the space of one banknote, but retain different titles and artists. Shin Saimdang's portrait on the front does not make the two reverse paintings her works.

Plum blossoms also appear on the front of the 1,000-won note, and bamboo appears on the front of the 5,000-won note. You encounter those plant types again on the 50,000-won reverse, but the named motifs and works differ. Moving from “a flower” or “bamboo” to the specific motif name gives you more to notice.

From a face to the name of a work

Next time you look at a Korean banknote, try remembering the portrait's name together with one surrounding motif: Yi Hwang and Myeongnyundang, Yi I and the attributed plants-and-insects painting, Sejong and the honcheonui, or Shin Saimdang and the several paintings on the 50,000-won note. The subjects may be connected within a design, but recognising the person, building, text and artwork separately is the starting point.

The Bank of Korea's current banknote guide provides the motif names. If a painting or its artist interests you, begin with the work's title rather than the name on the portrait. When 傳 accompanies the attribution, keep that character and its meaning in your notes too.

Sources and image credits

• Bank of Korea: people, basic colours and representative motifs on current banknotes

• KOMSCO: the artists and subjects of Wolmaedo and Pungjukdo

• Bank of Korea currency-design usage standards

• Bank of Korea currency-design usage FAQ

Currency-design copyright: Bank of Korea. A margin was added around the official 50,000-won front sample for the cover. The 1,000-, 5,000- and 10,000-won inline images place the official front and reverse samples one above the other. The designs themselves were not cropped or altered. The 50,000-won reverse file is unchanged. These images are supplied for screen viewing, not as print materials.