Chiljangsa Temple Clay Four Guardian Kings Statue

The Four Heavenly Kings (Sacheonwang) are gatekeepers who guard the four cardinal directions of the Buddhist world, revered as guardian deities protecting the Buddha and Buddhist truth. The Four Heavenly Kings statues at Chiljangsa Temple are clay figures (sojobul) built over a wooden frame, covered with clay and painted. Their faces are made fearsome with bulging, wide-open eyes, sharply raised black eyebrows and wide, red mouths; they hold large swords and other weapons in their hands and trample demons underfoot. Another feature of late Joseon Four Heavenly Kings statues is that, instead of helmets, they wear the jewelled crowns (bogwan) usually worn by bodhisattvas; the crowns of the Chiljangsa figures are relatively simple, decorated only with flower, cloud and flame motifs, apparently intended to soften the statues' fearsome look and lend them a more compassionate, gentle air. Beneath their armour the figures wear ordinary dress, and over the armour a celestial garment (cheonui) marking them as beings of the heavenly realm; as with other Four Heavenly Kings statues, a cloth is tied around the neck over the chest armour. The clay Four Heavenly Kings statues at Chiljangsa Temple are thought to have been made in 1726, the second year of King Yeongjo, together with the Cheonwangmun gate that houses them. Since most clay Four Heavenly Kings statues of the Joseon period were made in the first half of the seventeenth century, these figures are a very unusual example from the first half of the eighteenth century. Compared with seventeenth-century examples, they have lost the earlier vividness and dynamism, their stiffer forms reflecting the change of the times.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Anseong, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산