Mural Paintings in Geungnakjeon Hall of Muwisa Temple

These are murals painted on the interior walls of Geungnakbojeon Hall, 29 paintings in total, including a Triad Buddha Painting and a Painting of Amitabha Welcoming the Deceased. All have now been detached from the walls and are kept and displayed in a preservation hall. The murals that once decorated the interior walls of Geungnakbojeon Hall consisted of a Triad Buddha Painting, a Painting of Amitabha Welcoming the Deceased, two Paintings of the Five Buddhas, five bodhisattva paintings including a Painting of Avalokitesvara, six Paintings of Heavenly Musicians, seven Paintings of Lotus and Scrolling-vine Incense Burners, five Paintings of Peony Arabesques, one Painting of Scrolling Vines, and one Painting of a Standing Buddha. The Triad Buddha Painting was painted at the centre of the east wall: at the middle of a horizontally elongated picture plane is the principal Buddha, shown as if preaching, flanked by standing bodhisattvas and six monks, with a rocky mountain painted as the background. The principal Buddha's face is close to square, and the folds of his robe are rendered very naturally. The Painting of Amitabha Welcoming the Deceased depicts the Buddha Amitabha receiving those reborn into the Pure Land, accompanied by eight great bodhisattvas and eight monks. The overall composition is very natural, and the painting is notable for its pictorial quality, seen in the humorous, free facial expressions of the figures and their seemingly moving postures. Among these murals, the Triad Buddha Painting, two Paintings of Amitabha Welcoming the Deceased, the Painting of Avalokitesvara presumed to date to the fifteenth century, and two Paintings of Scrolling Vines — four items in total — are particularly important materials for the study of early Joseon Buddhist painting in the Goryeo style.

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Where it is

Region

Gangjin, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Treasure · 보물