Epitaph Plaques for Yi Gi-ha

This blue-and-white ceramic set of 18 epitaph tablets is a funerary record commemorating the life of Yi Gi-ha (1646−1718). It contains information ranging from his personality to his political achievements. Yi was described as a principled scholar-official with a profound love of a simple and frugal life style. The first tablet introduces Yi's illustrated family lineage including a number of famous ancestors. The 13th tablet narrates the royal house's bestowal on him a posthumous title Jeonghee (literally meaning Upright Happiness), and the 16th tablet talks about Yi's wife and children. The last tablet states that two prominent high officials, Yoon Soon (1680−1741) and Yi Deok-soo (1673−1744), composed this commemorative eulogy for the epitaph set.

Credit: Gift of The Honorable Joseph P. Carroll and Roberta Carroll, M.D.