Sixteen Arhats Painting of Jingwansa Temple

This Buddhist painting is a Sixteen Arhats Painting produced in 1884, consisting of six panels in total: four panels depicting the arhats, one panel depicting Indra with his retinue of guardian deities, and one panel depicting a messenger with guardian deities. Each of the four arhat panels shows four arhats seated against a landscape background, attended by adult and child attendants, in a variety of poses. The arhats are seated with their child attendants beneath pines with twisted branches, at the foot of mountains with cascading waterfalls, or amid bamboo groves, and are shown pressing their palms together in prayer, reading sutras, scratching their backs, catching a dragon, resting a crane on the palm of a hand, or holding a fan, a staff or a warning stick used to keep meditators alert. Most of the venerable figures wear robes combining bright red and blue, and the attendants standing beside them wear red and blue clothing as well, giving the whole an impression of strong colour. The child attendants beside each figure are shown playing with animals such as deer and turtles, or burning incense and brewing tea. The single-panel paintings of Indra with guardian deities and of the messenger with guardian deities were enshrined to the left and right of the arhat paintings; each divides its picture plane in two, depicting the respective figures standing amid clouds. Of particular note is the strong use of shading, a modern Western painting technique. The former panel bears an inscription stating that it was painted in 1884 by the master painter-monk Chugyeon, while the latter records that it was painted by Jincheol of Dongho, together with Gihyeong of Geumhwa, Wanhyeong, Subeop, Suil, Jonghyeon, Myogu, Jiin, Eungseop, Gyeongun, Hyejo, Hongsun and Bochal, allowing the names of the painter-monks involved to be identified. The Sixteen Arhats Painting itself lacks an inscription giving the painter's name or date, but the production record of the Vulture Peak Assembly Painting in Nahanjeon Hall states that a set of Buddhist paintings — the four arhat panels, one panel of Indra with guardian deities, one panel of the messenger with guardian deities, and one panel of Avalokitesvara — was produced together in 1884, showing that all these paintings were made in the same year by the same group of painter-monks. Commissioned in the late 19th century by a court lady of the royal household and produced by the renowned painter-monks of the day, the Sixteen Arhats Painting is especially notable for its fine brushwork, elaborate patterning and use of gold pigment.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산