Stone Avalokitesvara Sang and Votive Objects held at Gangneungcheonghaksa Temple

This statue is a bodhisattva seated in the half-lotus posture (bangajwa), a pose rarely seen in Buddhist sculpture of the Joseon period, and is thought to have been one of the two flanking attendant figures in a triad of Buddhist images. The face is somewhat squarish, and the head bears a jewelled crown within which a topknot is shown. A celestial shawl (cheonui) is draped over both shoulders, both hands rest on the knees, with folds of the shawl also shown over the wrists, and the sash tying the skirt (gunui) at the waist falls neatly downward. Inside the statue's interior cavity (bokjang), votive objects were found, including a prayer text for re-gilding dated to the 56th year of the Qianlong era (1791), a dharani dated to the 14th year of the Shunzhi era (1657), the Lotus Sutra, five-coloured cloth and thread, and grains of unhusked rice. The prayer text for re-gilding is of particular interest: it records that the statue had been enshrined at Unheungsa Temple on Taebaeksan Mountain, and that Buddhist painter-monks of the so-called "Sabulsan school of Buddhist painting" took part in the re-gilding, among them Seongamdang Hong-an (active 1762-1804) of Daeseungsa Temple, who was active mainly in the Gyeongbuk region in the late Joseon period, and Toeundang Sin-gyeom (active 1790-1830) of Geumnyongsa Temple.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gangneung, Gangwon

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산