Uisang Daesa Portrait of Beomeosa Temple

This painting, held at Beomeosa Temple, is a portrait of Uisang Daesa (625-702), a monk of the Silla period. Painted in colour on silk, the composition shows Uisang Daesa, in a three-panel-folding-screen setting, seated in a chair and gazing toward the viewer's right, a full-length seated portrait. In his right hand he holds a buljangja, a monk's ceremonial whisk-staff topped with a dragon-head ornament, while his left hand rests on his knee, lightly gripping the whisk's tassel. His face wears a slightly frowning, intent expression, and the rendering of the head and facial outline of this robed figure is strikingly reminiscent of the Venerable Ananda, who appears as a disciple of Sakyamuni in paintings such as the Sakyamuni Preaching or the Vulture Peak Assembly (Yeongsan hoesang) scenes. His monastic robe is a dark ultramarine jangsam, over which is draped a kasaya (the patchwork surplice worn over a monk's robe); its outer surface combines vermilion and ultramarine, while the lining uses a blue-green, the harmony of colours bringing the figure out clearly. At both ends of the backrest of the chair on which Uisang Daesa sits are dragon-head ornaments, and red cloth is draped over the backrest, so that overall the work basically inherits the style of the Goryeo period; the omission of a mat pattern on the floor is likewise an element following the old style. Below the chair is a footrest on which shoes carved with an elaborate pattern are placed. An inscription in the lower left of the composition records that the painting was made in the thirty-second year of the Qianlong era, that is, 1767, the forty-third year of King Yeongjo's reign of Joseon. The Uisang Daesa Portrait of Beomeosa Temple basically inherits the styles of Goryeo and early Joseon in its manner of depiction while incorporating some new elements in part; since its date of production is known, it is regarded as important material for the study of Buddhist painting in the late Joseon period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Geumjeong-gu, Busan

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산