Stone Seated Buddha in Mulgeol-ri, Hongcheon

This is a stone seated Buddha at Daeseungsa Temple in Mulgeol-ri, Naechon-myeon, Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon State. The face is so badly worn that its details can no longer be clearly made out. The hair appears to be rendered as small snail-shell curls, and the topknot-shaped protuberance on the crown of the head (yukgye, the Buddha's cranial bump) is not clearly expressed. The robe is draped over both shoulders, and a sash-like knot is visible at the chest. The shoulders are rounded but thick and somewhat coarse, and compared with 8th-century Buddha images the upper body is flatter and smaller, so that the earlier sense of imposing volume has been lost. The right hand rests on the knee with the fingertips pointing down, while the left hand lies on the abdomen. The pedestal on which the Buddha sits is octagonal, divided into upper, middle and lower tiers. Each face of the lower tier bears a pattern, carved with a censer and a kalavinka - a mythical bird of Buddhist lore. Each of the eight faces of the middle stone is carved with one of the Eight Kinds of Divine Beings (palbujungsang), and the upper tier is carved with a fully blossomed lotus pattern. Although damage prevents a detailed reading of the figure's bodily forms, the piece displays the pedestal style typical of the period after the mid-9th century, when decorative effect was emphasised.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hongcheon, Gangwon

Designation

Treasure · 보물