Stone Reliefs of the Four Guardian Kings at Unmunsa Temple, Cheongdo

The stone pillars carved with the Four Guardian Kings stand two on each side of the Stone Seated Buddha of Unmunsa Temple, Cheongdo, enshrined within Unmunsa Temple's Jagapjeon Hall, arranged like four freestanding stone columns. This is not their original setting: they appear to have been mounted on the four faces of the first-storey body stone of a brick pagoda that once stood on the site. All four figures wear armour and hold weapons, each with a round halo behind the head, trampling a demon underfoot. The Four Guardian Kings are directional deities who guard the four sides of the altar on which the Buddha is enshrined: Jiguk-cheonwang, Guardian King of the East, in the east; Gwangmok-cheonwang, Guardian King of the West, in the west; Jeungjang-cheonwang, Guardian King of the South, in the south; and Damun-cheonwang, Guardian King of the North, in the north. These four pillars have large bodies, yet the relief is not sharply cut, so the carving lacks a strong sense of volume. The physique also looks somewhat slight and the facial features soft, both signs of a later date. They resemble the Guardian Kings on the Bojoseonsa Stupa and the Cheolgamseonsa Stupa, both made in 880, but are larger and show thicker, more stylised drapery folds, so that a clear difference in date can be felt when they are compared with the eighth-century Guardian Kings of Seokguram Grotto. They are presumed to have been made around 900, in the late Unified Silla period or the following Later Three Kingdoms period.

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Where it is

Region

Cheongdo, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물