Rock-carved Standing Buddha in Geumosan Mountain, Gumi

This 5.5-metre-high rock-carved standing Buddha of the Goryeo period was cut into the face of a cliff, showing an unusual composition carved across both sides of a corner in the rock face. The face is relatively full and rounded, with a sense of volume, yet the narrow eyes and small mouth show features different from rock-carved standing Buddhas of the Silla period. The soft curves of the shoulders and arms display a formal beauty matching the face, indicating that the work was made by a sculptor of considerable skill. However, the right hand holding the hem of the robe, the excessively large left hand, the heavily rendered feet, and the stiff U-shaped folds of the robe reveal the duller, more constrained character of Goryeo-period sculpture compared with that of Silla. These features also appear in the semicircular lotus pedestal on which the Buddha stands and in the mandorla, which represents the light radiating from the Buddha's whole body. In its face, body, robe folds and mandorla, this rock-carved standing Buddha can be seen as a Goryeo-period work in which formalisation has progressed further than in Silla-period bodhisattva images.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gumi, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물