Dry-lacquered Seated Amitabha Buddha and Excavated Relics of Seonguksa Temple, Namwon

The Dry-lacquered Seated Amitabha Buddha of Seonguksa Temple was made using the geonchil, or dry-lacquer, technique popular from the late Goryeo to the early Joseon period; the figure has a large frame and well-balanced proportions throughout. The face is full and serene, the hair is rendered in tight snail-shell curls, and there are both a topknot finial and a central forehead finial. The shoulders are rounded, the chest is raised, and the torso is thick in profile, giving a sense of full volume. In its style of robe, the metal fittings on the kasaya, and the treatment of the knot binding the undergarment, the statue shares stylistic features with early-to-mid fourteenth-century Buddhist images of the late Goryeo period, such as the gilt-bronze Seated Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine) Buddha of Janggoksa Temple (treasure, made in 1346) and the now-lost gilt-bronze Seated Buddha of Munsusa Temple (Chungcheongnam-do tangible cultural heritage, 1346). The round face and the folds of drapery hanging down from the left shoulder are also comparable to the wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Gaeunsa Temple (repaired in 1274, regilded in 1322) and the wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Bongnimsa Temple, Hwaseong (treasure, dated no later than 1362). That the material is dry lacquer further underscores the importance of this statue: surviving dry-lacquer images are few in number, and most of them are bodhisattva figures. This Seated Amitabha Buddha is therefore worthy of designation as a treasure both for showing well the sculptural style of the mid-fourteenth century and for being a rare Goryeo-period dry-lacquer Buddha image. Excavated relics were found within the Dry-lacquered Seated Amitabha Buddha of Seonguksa Temple; some have since been lost, and only material dating from the late fourteenth to the late fifteenth century now survives. The surviving printed dharani are valued as important material for the history of printing and for bibliography in relation to Buddhist thought, since rather than pictorial imagery they show a conceptualised design of Sanskrit letters arranged in a circular form; for this reason they were designated together with the statue as a single group. These excavated relics are currently held in trust at the Seongbo Museum of Geumsansa Temple, Gimje, Jeollabuk-do.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Namwon, Jeonbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물