Hanging Painting of Geumtapsa Temple

The Hanging Painting of Geumtapsa Temple is a gwaebul, a large Buddhist painting hung in a temple courtyard for major rites, with an unusual composition on a horizontally elongated canvas depicting the Three Buddhas of the Three Ages together with their principal attendant bodhisattvas. It measures 531 cm in length and 647.6 cm in width, showing a simplified composition that omits attendant figures such as the Four Heavenly Kings and includes only the main attendant bodhisattvas. The Three Buddhas are set out across three equal horizontal sections and painted large, with attendant figures arranged above and below. The principal Buddha has a full, round face with small ears, eyes, mouth and nose; on his head the topknot-shaped usnisa spreads out to the sides, and the crowning jewel at its peak is depicted large. The shoulders are drawn at an angle, and the ankles are decorated with flared silk cuffs. The wooden chest used to store the hanging painting was made in 1697, roughly a hundred years earlier than the painting itself. Painted in 1778, the second year of King Jeongjo of Joseon, by Bihyeon and Kwaeyun together, this work—with its small facial features, its large crowning jewel atop the outward-spreading usnisa, its angular shoulders and its flared silk ankle decoration—is valued as important material illustrating the characteristics of the late eighteenth century.

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Where it is

Region

Goheung, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Treasure · 보물