Rock-carved Bodhisattva in Jangam-ri, Icheon

This Goryeo-period rock-carved bodhisattva, popularly known as 'Mireukbawi' (Maitreya Rock), is carved in shallow relief across the entire front of a large granite cliff face and measures 3.2 m overall. Wearing a tall crown, the bodhisattva holds a lotus flower in its hand, and a small Buddha figure carved into the crown suggests that it represents Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The figure sits in the pose known as half-cross-legged (bangasang), with the right foot lowered onto a pedestal shaped like a fully bloomed lotus and the left foot raised onto the right knee. The face and body are on the whole rendered large and out of proportion, giving an impression of heaviness. An inscription on the reverse of the rock records that the work was made in 981, early in the Goryeo period. Although strongly regional in character and somewhat unrefined in carving technique overall, this is a distinctive image of Avalokiteshvara — the shoulders wrapped in a celestial robe, a tall crown worn, and a lotus branch held in the hand — and, together with the Standing Stone Bodhisattva in Gwangdeok-ri, Gimcheon (treasure), it stands as an important sculpture of the 10th century meriting comparative study.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Icheon, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물