Album of Buddhist Paintings by Yi Sang-jwa

The Album of Buddhist Paintings by Yi Sang-jwa is an album of various Buddhist images, measuring 31.1 cm across and 50.7 cm high, painted by Yi Sang-jwa (1465–?), an artist of the early Joseon period. Yi Sang-jwa was born a slave, but his skill in painting won him a place as a court painter at the Dohwaseo, the royal bureau of painting, where he particularly excelled at figure painting. The paintings in this album depict arhats, saints who attained enlightenment through hearing the Buddha's teachings, rendered on paper in ink outline alone, without colour. Numbers above the arhats' heads suggest that all sixteen arhats were originally painted, but only five works survive today. Although these paintings were made to serve as preliminary sketches, the brushwork is lively and the lines flowing, capturing the figures skilfully. The faces are rendered delicately in fine lines, while the clothing makes measured use of both fine and thick lines. This album offers a view of the painting style of Yi Sang-jwa, an outstanding painter of the early Joseon period, and is highly valuable material for studying the techniques used in figure painting of that period.

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Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물