Hyeonwang Painting of Mahasa Temple

This is a Hyeonwang painting preserved at Mahasa Temple. A Hyeonwang painting depicts Hyeonwang, the king of the underworld before whom the dead appear for judgement three days after death, together with his retinue. Painted in colour on silk, the composition sets a three-panel landscape screen as its backdrop, with Hyeonwang seated at the centre facing forward on a chair, a desk before him, holding a ceremonial tablet in both hands. To his left and right are arranged six noksa, recording officials, each dressed in official robes and holding a tablet, all turned towards Hyeonwang. The desk before him has a yellow ground patterned with wood grain, on which are neatly placed four sutra books, a brush and a water dropper. On both sides of the back of Hyeonwang's chair, dragon heads are decorated in gold leaf. An inscription at the centre of the lower part of the painting records that it was made in the fifty-seventh year of the Qianlong era, that is, in the sixteenth year of King Jeongjo of Joseon (1792). The Hyeonwang Painting of Mahasa Temple is valued as important material for studying the style and lineage of Buddhist art in the Busan and South Gyeongsang region in the late Joseon period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Geumjeong-gu, Busan

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산