Vulture Peak Assembly Painting of Jingwansa Temple

This Buddhist painting is a Yeongsanhoesangdo, a Vulture Peak Assembly painting depicting Sakyamuni Buddha preaching on Vulture Peak, made in 1884. At the centre of the wide, horizontal composition Sakyamuni is shown preaching, flanked by four bodhisattvas, the Four Heavenly Kings, and six disciples; the empty spaces of the picture are filled with coloured clouds, giving the whole scene a dense composition with almost no blank space. The principal image, Sakyamuni, wears red monastic robes and sits in full lotus position on a lotus pedestal; his full, rounded face and imposing body give an impression of robust strength. His robe covers both shoulders, and his hands are held with the left raised to chest level and the right resting on the abdomen, thumb and middle finger touching — a gesture resembling the Amitabha mudra. Although this differs from the “earth-touching” mudra more usually associated with Sakyamuni, such gestures appear often in Buddhist images of the late Joseon period, so it may still be read as a mudra of Sakyamuni. To the right and left of the principal image stand the bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra, each holding a large white lotus with both hands and attending Sakyamuni in reverence, and beside them the Four Heavenly Kings hold, on the right, a sword and a pipa (lute), and on the left, a dragon, a wish-fulfilling jewel, and a pagoda. Above and beside these figures, three further bodhisattvas and disciples are shown on each side, the disciples depicted from the chest up with palms joined in prayer. According to the inscription in the lower right of the painting, it was commissioned in the late nineteenth century by a court lady of the royal household and was produced in 1884 together with a set of related works for the rear altar of Yeongsanjeon Hall: four paintings of the Sixteen Arhats, two paintings of the messengers of Indra, and one painting of Avalokitesvara. This shows that the painting was originally enshrined not in Nahanjeon Hall but in Yeongsanjeon Hall. With its elongated horizontal format, restrained forms and bright dominant colours, this Vulture Peak Assembly painting shows well the characteristics of Buddhist painting of the late nineteenth century, and it ranks among the representative works of Buddhist painting of its time.

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Where it is

Region

Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산