Seated Simgoksa Temple Myeongbujeon Hall Ksitigarbha and Attendant Figures

These are twenty-six Buddhist statues enshrined in the Myeongbujeon Hall of Simgoksa Temple, a hall said to have been first founded by the Silla-period monk Great Master Muyeom. They comprise Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, the Ten Kings of the underworld, and their attendant figures. At the centre is Ksitigarbha, flanked by the Venerable Domyeong and King Mudok, with six statues of the Ten Kings, three on each side, and three child-attendant statues arranged around them. On the north side of the hall are two statues of the Ten Kings, three underworld-messenger figures and one child attendant, while on the south side are two statues of the Ten Kings, two messenger figures and two child attendants. Two Vajra Guardian statues stand to either side of the central entrance. All twenty-six statues are clay images. Ksitigarbha and the Ten Kings are seated, while the messenger figures, Vajra Guardians and child attendants stand. The seated Ksitigarbha has a shaven head like a Buddhist monk and wears a robe covering both shoulders, rendered in a notably thick manner, its folds flowing down to envelop the legs, which are crossed in the full lotus position. His two hands, each with thumb and middle finger touching, rest with the right hand on the knee and the left hand on the right foot; these hands were made separately from the body and then attached. Based on their stylistic features, these statues are thought to have been made around the same period as the Seated Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and Attendant Figures of Sungnimsa Temple (1634, a Jeollabuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage) and the Clay Ksitigarbha Triad and Attendant Figures of Myeongbujeon Hall at Songgwangsa Temple, Wanju (1640, a Jeollabuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage).

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Iksan, Jeonbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산