<p>It looks like it is indeed 丁. The Flickr link mentioned the photo was taken at 茶山草堂. With that information, I was able to find <a href="http://huanqiu21.blog.163.com/blog/static/186285415201182103713744/" rel="nofollow">another site</a> with a photo of the same doorway indicating that it says 寶丁山房.</p>

<p>I don't know the specific reason why the character is stylized in this way, though 茶山 refers to the pen name of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeong_Yak-yong" rel="nofollow">Joeng Yak-yong (丁若鏞)</a>, so it could be in reference to his surname, 丁.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-02T06:59:39.020Z
2015-07-02T06:59:39.020Z
Claw
<p>If <a href="http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_7f09352f0100yxc1.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this blog</a> and <a href="http://cluster1.cafe.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_search_read?grpid=1KcCH&amp;fldid=JnFm&amp;datanum=194&amp;openArticle=true&amp;docid=1KcCHJnFm19420110130230935" rel="nofollow noreferrer">that</a> are correct, these four characters are indeed 寶丁山房, penned by the famous Korean calligrapher <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jeong-hui" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kim Jeong-hui 金正喜</a> in memory of 丁若鏞.</p>

<p>The characters on this wooden board look like 隸書 calligraphy to me. Please compare with the 隸書 section in the calligraphy samples of <a href="http://shufa.supfree.net/raky.asp?zi=%B1%A6" rel="nofollow noreferrer">寶</a>, <a href="http://shufa.supfree.net/raky.asp?zi=%B6%A1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">丁</a>, <a href="http://shufa.supfree.net/raky.asp?zi=%C9%BD" rel="nofollow noreferrer">山</a>, and <a href="http://shufa.supfree.net/raky.asp?zi=%B7%BF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">房</a> respectively. It seems like Kim is being creative with the 丁 character here. I don't know much about Kim's style but thanks to this <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=FjlwAwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT139&amp;lpg=PT139&amp;dq=%E9%87%91%E6%AD%A3%E5%96%9C%20%E6%9B%B8%E6%B3%95&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=ZrjWdoXdla&amp;sig=ZOTX2VSmBGmyBLUpF0bEPNsJfsY&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=heaUVbugG8OoogSH4JQQ&amp;ved=0CDQQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&amp;q=%E9%87%91%E6%AD%A3%E5%96%9C%20%E6%9B%B8%E6%B3%95&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">google books search</a> I found out a bit more about his creative style.</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/cyNwx.png" alt="enter image description here"> </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-02T08:29:20.993Z
2015-07-02T08:35:11.607Z
2015-07-02T08:35:11.607Z
leo4jc
<p>Here's a picture I have found on flickr, taken in an outdoor museum in South Korea. 
I can only recognize the 1st, 3rd and 4th characters: 寶X山房. 寶 is probably not the variant written on the wooden board, but it's the same character. What is the 2nd character?</p>

<p>The original high resolution image is <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/koreanet/17076171307/in/dateposted/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>. </p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/rMWEt.jpg" alt="enter image description here"> </p>

<p>EDIT： My best guess is 丁, but why this odd curvy shape when the rest of the characters are rendered fairly standard?</p>

<characters><place-names>
Interpretation of second character
# Interpretation of second character

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-07-02)

Here's a picture I have found on flickr, taken in an outdoor museum in South Korea.
I can only recognize the 1st, 3rd and 4th characters: 寶X山房. 寶 is probably not the variant written on the wooden board, but it's the same character. What is the 2nd character?

The original high resolution image is [here](https://www.flickr.com/photos/koreanet/17076171307/in/dateposted/).

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/rMWEt.jpg)

EDIT： My best guess is 丁, but why this odd curvy shape when the rest of the characters are rendered fairly standard?

**Tags:** characters, place-names

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-07-02. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

It looks like it is indeed 丁. The Flickr link mentioned the photo was taken at 茶山草堂. With that information, I was able to find [another site](http://huanqiu21.blog.163.com/blog/static/186285415201182103713744/) with a photo of the same doorway indicating that it says 寶丁山房.

I don't know the specific reason why the character is stylized in this way, though 茶山 refers to the pen name of [Joeng Yak-yong (丁若鏞)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeong_Yak-yong), so it could be in reference to his surname, 丁.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2015-07-02. Score: 1

If [this blog](http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_7f09352f0100yxc1.html) and [that](http://cluster1.cafe.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_search_read?grpid=1KcCH&fldid=JnFm&datanum=194&openArticle=true&docid=1KcCHJnFm19420110130230935) are correct, these four characters are indeed 寶丁山房, penned by the famous Korean calligrapher [Kim Jeong-hui 金正喜](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jeong-hui) in memory of 丁若鏞.

The characters on this wooden board look like 隸書 calligraphy to me. Please compare with the 隸書 section in the calligraphy samples of [寶](http://shufa.supfree.net/raky.asp?zi=%B1%A6), [丁](http://shufa.supfree.net/raky.asp?zi=%B6%A1), [山](http://shufa.supfree.net/raky.asp?zi=%C9%BD), and [房](http://shufa.supfree.net/raky.asp?zi=%B7%BF) respectively. It seems like Kim is being creative with the 丁 character here. I don't know much about Kim's style but thanks to this [google books search](https://books.google.com/books?id=FjlwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT139&lpg=PT139&dq=%E9%87%91%E6%AD%A3%E5%96%9C%20%E6%9B%B8%E6%B3%95&source=bl&ots=ZrjWdoXdla&sig=ZOTX2VSmBGmyBLUpF0bEPNsJfsY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=heaUVbugG8OoogSH4JQQ&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=%E9%87%91%E6%AD%A3%E5%96%9C%20%E6%9B%B8%E6%B3%95&f=false) I found out a bit more about his creative style.

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/cyNwx.png)


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