Seated Bucheonseok King Temple Wooden Avalokitesvara

This is a bodhisattva statue from the late Joseon period whose date and maker are both known. Inside the statue a huryeongtong, a cylindrical container holding various votive objects placed within a Buddhist image and symbolising the Buddha's voice, and two sheets of balwonmun, a written prayer of dedication, were found. The votive text records that the statue of Avalokitesvara was made in April 1755 to be enshrined at a temple called Yonghwaam, and it names the sculptor-monks who took part in making it. The geumeo, the master sculptor-monk who directed the whole project, was the monk Sangjeong, and the hwasa, the monk who painted the statue, was the monk Saekmin. The monk Sangjeong was renowned as a sculptor-monk who, from the 1750s onward, travelled the country leading the making and repair of Buddhist statues. Though modest in scale, this seated wooden statue of Avalokitesvara is a valuable work that reveals both the trends in late Joseon Buddhist sculpture and the lineage of sculptor-monks. The upper body leans slightly forward in a stooped posture, and the head wears a large crown hung with flame- and flower-patterned dangling ornaments. The two hands were made separately and fitted onto the wrists, each with the thumb and middle finger touching. The square face with large features, the hem of the undergarment at the chest finished as though petals were joined together, and the technique by which the lower hem drapes long down over the pedestal with lotus buds emerging between its folds are among the features commonly found in the works of the monk Sangjeong.

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Where it is

Region

Bucheon, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산