This portrait depicts Kang Se-hwang (姜世晃, 1713–1791), a leading figure in eighteenth-century Korean art, at the age of seventy-one. When Kang turned seventy-one in 1783, he entered the Giroso (Club of Senior Officials) thanks to the kindness of King Jeongjo (正祖, r. 1776–1800), who also ordered the court painter Yi Myeong-gi (李命基, 1756–before 1813) to create a portrait. In this portrait, Kang is depicted wearing a tall samo (official’s silk winged hat) and an official robe adorned with ornate designs of clouds and seven treasures. He is seated in a chair and gazing to his right. The leopard skin covering the chair and the patterned rush mat on the floor lend a decorative effect to the painting. Intense shading can be found in his samo, the drapery folds of his robe, and the round arms of the chair. The shading and wrinkles in his face are rendered in minute brushwork on the front of the painting, resulting in a realistic depiction of the figure. Such rendering departs from the earlier portrait methods of baechaebeop, in which colors are applied to the back of a painting, and color gradations on the front to add three-dimensionality to the sitter’s face. As symbols of an official of the senior second rank, a double-crane rank badge is on his chest and a brilliant sapgeumdae (belt with gold ornaments) is around his waist. Yi Myeong-gi took part in the creation of royal portraits of kings as a chief painter in 1791 and 1796 and produced portraits of prominent officials during the reign of King Jeongjo. The earliest known portrait by Yi Myeong-gi, the portrait of Kang Se-hwang demonstrates that Yi skillfully created three-dimensional painting effects by actively adopting Western painting techniques. This portrait bears a text composed by King Jeongjo expressing his longing for his subject Kang Se-hwang, who was well-versed in poetry, calligraphy, and painting. It mentions Kang’s personality, talent, government positions, and achievements. With the harmony between the realistic painting style of Yi Myeong-gi and the text by King Jeongjo honoring his subject, the Portrait of Kang Se-hwang can be viewed as a definitive portrait of an official from the second half of the eighteenth century.