Stone Basin, Buyeo

This basin originally stood in front of the dongheon, the local government office building, of Buyeo-hyeon. During the Japanese colonial period it was moved to the courtyard of the former museum, and it is now preserved at the Buyeo National Museum. The Buyeo Stone Basin is a Baekje-period artefact linked to a legend that lotus flowers were planted and enjoyed in it at the royal palace. It rests on a base shaped like the Chinese character for 'gong', with a rounded, bud-like bowl set on top. The base is plain and unadorned. The basin placed upon it draws inward slightly at the rim before curving outward in a rounded arc; the bottom appears flat but in fact forms a gentle curve. Eight vertical lines are carved into the surface at regular intervals, and traces remain of an attempt to carve an inscription similar to the one on the first-storey body of the five-storey stone pagoda (national treasure) at Jeongnimsa Temple Site in Buyeo, which records that Tang China had pacified Baekje. Since the basin bears no lotus decoration at all, it does not appear to be an artefact connected with a Buddhist temple; and because the site where it originally stood is said to have been the location of a Baekje royal palace, it is thought to have been a seongnyeonji, a stone lotus pond, used within the palace at the time. With its full yet clean, curving form, the basin well displays the simple and unpretentious aesthetic sense of the Baekje people.

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Where it is

Region

Buyeo, Chungnam

Designation

Treasure · 보물