Gilt-bronze Seated Vairocana Buddha Triad of Yeongtapsa Temple, Dangjin

The Gilt-bronze Seated Vairocana Buddha Triad of Yeongtapsa Temple, Dangjin, is enshrined at Yeongtapsa Temple, said to have been founded by State Preceptor Doseon at the end of the Silla period. It forms a triad composition in which the principal image, a Vairocana Buddha, sits on an octagonal lotus-patterned pedestal with two attendant bodhisattvas at either side. The principal Buddha has small snail-shell-shaped curls attached to the head, above which sits a large topknot-shaped protuberance. The square face gives a full, rounded impression, while the drapery folds, rendered in lines, appear somewhat formulaic. The upper body is long and substantial, but the lower body is markedly diminished, giving an unstable impression; the height of the knees, too, is low relative to the upper body, so that the proportions of the figure are uneven. The chest is likewise flat, and the lower body is treated heavily, features that appear in Buddhist images from the mid-Goryeo period onward. The hands are in the pose typically taken by Vairocana Buddhas, with the left index finger wrapped by the right hand. The bodhisattvas on the left and right both take the same posture and are rendered in the same technique. The jewelled crowns on their heads were made separately; beneath them the hair is bound up high, and the hair falls long to the shoulders. Their faces are basically the same as that of the principal Buddha but somewhat more feminine, and the necklace ornament on the chest is unusually large. The celestial scarf wound around the narrow waist appears as though several bands were tied tightly around it. The pedestals of these bodhisattvas are lotus buds formed where two lotus stems rising from the principal Buddha's pedestal branch off. This gilt-bronze Buddhist image is regarded as a work that shows the distinctive characteristics of Goryeo Buddhist sculpture in its composition and form.

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Where it is

Region

Dangjin, Chungnam

Designation

Treasure · 보물