Mural Painting of Bongjeongsa Temple, Andong (The Vulture Peak Assembly)

This mural was discovered on 16 January 1997 and, after conservation treatment, is now kept in the temple museum. The panel has warped at its central rail, causing partial cracking, and much of its original appearance has been lost to natural decay and man-made damage, but the composition, colouring and some of the patterning can still be made out. Its subject is the central principal Buddha, making the mudra of preaching, surrounded by numerous attendant figures; the surviving inscription identifies it as a Yeongsanhoesangdo, a painting of the Vulture Peak Assembly, depicting the scene of Sakyamuni Buddha preaching the Lotus Sutra on Yeongchwisan (Vulture Peak). Throughout, the heavy use of red and green gives a somewhat weighty feel, but this is well balanced by the principal Buddha's vivid scarlet robe and by pale sky-blue and pale pink tones enriched with white pigment, creating a solemn atmosphere and demonstrating outstanding brushwork and dense compositional skill. The exact date of this mural cannot be established with certainty, but records found during the dismantling and repair of Daeungjeon Hall — an inscription of 1435, the "Record of the Reconstruction of Daeungjeon Hall," found on the upper surface of a beam added beneath the lower ridge purlin, together with an ink inscription of 1436 on the front central-bay column — suggest that it was made around 1435. The mural in Daeungjeon Hall at Bongjeongsa is thus the oldest surviving Vulture Peak Assembly painting in Korea; together with the 1476 mural of Amitabha Buddha behind the altar at Muwisa Temple, Gangjin, it forms one of the twin pinnacles of early Joseon Buddhist painting, and it holds great significance as the prototype for the later, more crowded compositions of Vulture Peak Assembly paintings as well as other Buddhist assembly paintings.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Andong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물