Nine-cloud dream (Kuummong)

For another screen of the same subject see Hopes and Aspirations: Decorative Paintings of Korea, exh. cat. (San Francisco: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1998), pl. 12. The entry explains that the subject of the screens is taken from the eponymous novel written by Kim Manjung (1637-1720). "Nine cloud" corresponds to the nine principal characters of the story wherein the hero, a monk reincarnated as one Yang Soju, experiences bliss after bliss of life only to discover that it is "but a dream."