Bronze Bell Cast by Buddhist Monk Sain, Ganghwa

A Joseon bell made in 1711 by the monk Sain, who worked in Gyeonggi and Gyeongsang under King Sukjong. Sain, an outstanding monk and craftsman of the eighteenth century, made bells that joined originality to the traditional Silla technique of bell-making. Eight of his bells survive, each with different features. This one, made in 1711, the thirty-seventh year of King Sukjong, near the end of his life, is 198 cm high and 138 cm across the mouth. At the top two dragons face each other to left and right, forming the loop from which the bell hangs. The top is a rounded dome, and the shoulder has an L-shaped ledge — apparently a new development of the Goryeo band of upright petals that made the shoulder project. Well below the shoulder are four square nipple panels, each holding nine lotus-bud bosses. Round the middle of the body two thick horizontal lines, after the Chinese bell style, divide it into upper and lower halves. Below them there is only a broad band of flowers just above the mouth and no other ornament, and an inscription giving its date. It shows that Sain, who carried on the traditional form of the Korean temple bell, made bells in the Chinese line like this one late in his life.

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Visiting

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Ganghwa, Incheon

Designation

Treasure · 보물