Ssanggyesa Temple Hyeonwang Painting

The Ssanggyesa Temple Hyeonwang Painting, a Buddhist painting depicting Hyeonwang ('King of the Present'), was produced by the monk-painter Yuseon. Hyeonwang refers to Bohyeonwang Yeorae, the future-Buddha form of King Yeomna (Yama), who received a prophecy that he would attain Buddhahood in a future life. Whereas the Ten Kings judge the deceased from the seventh day after death, Bohyeonwang Yeorae is the king who judges the dead after only three days. Hyeonwang is shown wearing a crown surmounted by a sutra book, dressed in a red robe with a green collar, seated on a chair covered with tiger skin, his upper body turned slightly, both hands neatly holding a hol (a ceremonial tablet). The face — its long, thick eyebrows rendered repeatedly in fine brushstrokes, its thick beard, firmly closed mouth and piercing eyes — conveys the temperament of a stern judge presiding over judgment. At the top are attendant boys holding a plantain-leaf fan and a parasol; in the middle stand Daeryunseongwang and Jeollyunseongwang in symmetry; and at the bottom, officials and clerks holding scrolls recording sins and register books likewise form a symmetrical pair. The painting uses mainly red, green-blue and ultramarine across the composition, with white applied to the face and hands, following the colouring technique typical of Buddhist paintings of the late eighteenth century. Yuseon was a monk-painter active in Gyeonggi-do around 1800, who also took part in the construction of Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. As the earliest known Hyeonwang painting from the Seoul and Gyeonggi region, it is an important resource for tracing the formation of the iconography of Hyeonwang paintings in that area.

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Where it is

Region

Ansan, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산