Painting of the Vulture Peak Assembly

Overall size: height 227.0 cm, width 188.5 cm. This Buddhist painting is on a hemp-cloth ground pieced together horizontally from seven panels; the whole surface was first coated with red pigment, after which the outlines, patterns and other details of each figure were painted in white pigment and ochre. The principal Buddha at the upper centre forms the mudra of the lowest grade of rebirth, a gesture that might suggest Amitabha Buddha; however, an inscription at the bottom of the painting, which includes the characters for "Vulture Peak Assembly," indicates that the figure is in fact Sakyamuni Buddha preaching at the Vulture Peak Assembly on Vulture Peak. The composition shows Sakyamuni seated cross-legged on a jewelled dais at the centre, flanked on either side by equal numbers of figures: ten bodhisattvas, the Ten Great Disciples, and the Four Heavenly Kings. The painting technique renders the outlines, patterns and other details of each figure in white pigment and ochre; the bodies of the figures are lightly coloured in ochre with outlines drawn in ink, while ultramarine is used for the hair and malachite green for the eyebrows. Whereas sixteenth-century line-drawing Buddhist paintings generally use gold outlines, this painting uses white or ochre instead, and its inscription, too, is written in ink in a hurried, rather perfunctory hand. Nevertheless, it bears the fixed date of 1565, and since only three or four early Joseon Buddhist paintings survive in Korea, of which this is both the largest and among only one other so far designated, it is of great value. It is also the oldest surviving work executed in white and ochre outline, and, showing a different style from paintings commissioned by court-related patrons, it is excellent material for gauging the diversity of Buddhist painting styles of the period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seo-gu, Busan

Designation

Treasure · 보물