Seated Yeongam Wolgok-ri Rock-carved Buddha

This rock-carved Buddha is a Goryeo-period image cut into a high rock face some 30 m tall. The head is bare, with no depiction of hair, and bears a low usnisha (the knob-like protrusion on the crown of a Buddha's head); the angular face, with its somewhat formalised eyes, nose, ears and mouth, together with the stiff body, clearly display the stylistic features of the period. The robe is worn in the "bared right shoulder" style, folded once over the left shoulder and carried across it, leaving the right shoulder exposed, with the folds rendered simply. The hands form the earth-touching gesture, and the legs, seated in the full lotus position, and the feet are exaggerated in scale. The halo, shaped like a boat, is carved with a flame pattern, and the low pedestal likewise bears a formalised lotus design. The figure stands 5.9 m tall. With its stiff facial expression and formalised body, this rock-carved Buddha follows, together with the nearby Seated Rock-carved Buddha of Wolchulsan Mountain (National Treasure No. 144), the style of large stone Buddhas then in fashion, and it is an important record of the development of Buddhist sculptural style in this region.

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Where it is

Region

Yeongam, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산