Bronze Bell of Beomeosa Temple

This bronze bell, hung in the bell pavilion of Beomeosa Temple, is a sizeable Buddhist bell measuring 127.0 cm in height and 92.5 cm in diameter at the mouth. At the top of the crown plate is a yongnyu, a dragon-shaped hanging loop, formed of a pair of dragons, and the body's outline swells gently outward as it descends, showing a smooth, rounded beauty of curve. On the body of the bell, a yugwak (a raised panel of nipple-shaped bosses), images of bodhisattvas, and a jeonpae (a memorial tablet motif) are cast in relief, displaying the style of late Joseon bronze bells. The bell body also bears an inscription in relief giving the date of casting, weight, the names of the bell-founders, the resident monks, the donors, and those who assisted in the fundraising; apart from a bluish surface caused by oxidation, it is undamaged and in relatively good condition. The Beomeosa bronze bell, made in 1728, was cast by Kim Seong-won and Kim Seon-bong, natives of Jeolla-do who were active bell-founders in eighteenth-century Korea. Among surviving eighteenth-century Buddhist bells it is fairly large in scale, and as a heritage item sometimes cited as a representative work of late Joseon bells, it is valuable material for studying the bronze bell style of the late Joseon period.

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Where it is

Region

Geumjeong-gu, Busan

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산