Gilt-bronze Standing Bodhisattva (1968)

A gilt-bronze standing bodhisattva 54.5 cm high that shows well the style and features of bodhisattvas fashionable in Unified Silla. The pedestal on which it stood and the crown it wore are now lost, and the left hand is broken off at the forearm. The head is a little large for the body, with a large topknot on top. Below the eyes the face is unusually long compared with above them, which gives it a somehow stiff look. A celestial scarf crosses the broad chest diagonally, passes round the back and flows down over both arms; the right hand holds one of its ends. The skirt, folded over once at the waist, hangs over the knees, the rest falling long to above the ankles. Its folds are rendered in raised U-shaped lines, a very refined and beautiful technique. Bodhisattvas of this style are common among Unified Silla images. Though in a different material, it is of a type like the stone standing Maitreya bodhisattva of Gamsansa Temple, Gyeongju, made in 719, the eighteenth year of King Seongdeok (a national treasure), and the four-sided stone Buddhas at the Gulbulsa Temple Site, Gyeongju, made in the mid-eighth century (a treasure). Balanced overall and fairly supple in form, but somewhat stiff in the face and body, it is thought to date from the later eighth century.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보