Stone Lantern at Seollimwon Temple Site, Yangyang

This stone lantern stands on a hill to the west within the site of Seollimwon Temple. Seollimwon was an old Silla temple; a Silla bronze bell excavated here revealed that it had been founded by the monk Suneung, who had also founded Haeinsa Temple. The site has since become farmland, but numerous relics remain, and fragments of roof tiles and pottery are still being found there, giving a sense of the temple's former scale. A stone lantern typically centres on the fire chamber, the stone housing where the light is kept, supported below by a three-tiered base and topped above by a roof stone and finial. This lantern follows the typical Silla octagonal form, but the composition of its base is highly distinctive and draws attention. The corner-flower carvings on the lower base stone project charmingly and are finely finished; above them the middle base stone stands like a pillar, resembling an upright janggu, an hourglass-shaped drum, and richly decorated. Bands of cloud pattern encircle both ends of the pillar, while at its slender middle a node carved with flower blossoms is set, flanked above and below by symmetrical bands of lotus carving, so that three nodes are formed in all. The fire chamber is octagonal, pierced with four windows to let the light shine out, and beneath each face a pattern is carved in a small recessed space, a very unusual feature. The roof stone has clearly defined octagonal ridge lines, and its eaves are decorated with the same corner-flower carvings seen on the lower base stone; the slope is gentle rather than steep, blending naturally with the corner-flower carvings. At the top only the small base stone of the finial, carved with a lotus, remains. Although part of the roof stone has broken away, the lantern otherwise survives intact, and its overall style and flowing decorative carving are almost identical to the Stone Lantern at Gaeseonsa Temple Site, Damyang, a work of the Unified Silla period. Together with the Stele for State Preceptor Honggak at Seollimwon Temple Site, Yangyang, within the same temple site, it is presumed to have been erected in 886, the first year of King Jeonggang of Silla.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yangyang, Gangwon

Designation

Treasure · 보물