Dry-lacquered Seated Vairocana Buddha of Bulhoesa Temple, Naju

Enshrined as the principal image in the Daeungjeon Hall of Bulhoesa Temple, this statue is a dry-lacquer Buddha image of the type made in particular at the end of Goryeo and the beginning of Joseon. Stylistically, with its somewhat elongated body proportions and form, smaller face, manner of robe, and rendering of drapery folds, it is thought to have been produced in the early Joseon period, continuing the Buddha-image style of the late Goryeo period. In particular, its mudra — the jigwonin, or "wisdom fist" gesture, in which the clenched left fist is enclosed by the right hand — is the hand gesture of Vairocana Buddha as it appears in illustrated frontispieces of the Avatamsaka Sutra (Hwaeomgyeong byeonsangdo) from the late Goryeo period; the Bulhoesa statue is not only an early example of this mudra among surviving sculpture but is also an outstanding work of sculpture in its own right.

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Where it is

Region

Naju, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Treasure · 보물