Gasado Painting of Cheongnyongsa Temple

The Gasado Painting of Cheongnyongsa Temple is a gasa taeng, a painting depicting an embroidered kasaya (Buddhist monastic robe), made in 1902. On a red ground the picture is laid out in twenty-seven vertical columns forming the grid pattern characteristic of such robes; in twenty-five of these columns (all but the two at either side), each column shows, from top to bottom, a Buddha or bodhisattva image across the top four rows, various sutras held in ornate book cases across the next two rows, and a Buddhist monk figure in the bottom row. In total the painting depicts 125 sacred figures: fifty Buddhas, fifty bodhisattvas and twenty-five monks. This type of painting follows the format of the chaekgeori screen, a decorative genre depicting stacked books and objects that was fashionable at the royal court in the late Joseon period, and very few examples of it survive today. It is especially notable for its realistic rendering of the robe's form, down to fine stitch-marks worked along the edge of each red panel as though actually sewn. Made in 1902, the painting was originally enshrined at Hangnimam Hermitage on Suraksan Mountain in Yangju, before later being transferred to Cheongnyongsa Temple, where it remains. As it is recorded to have been enshrined at Hangnimam Hermitage to pray for the wellbeing and long life of Emperor Gojong and Emperor Sunjong and their consorts, and Crown Prince Yeong, it is presumed to have been commissioned as a votive painting by the royal family. It was made with the participation of leading Buddhist painter-monks active in the Seoul and Gyeonggi region, including Hanbong Eungjak, together with Myeongeung Yungam, Gyesa Bongbeop, Bosan Bokju, Geumun Jeonggi, Yeun Sanggyu and Jaegyeom. As a representative example of the gasado genre that was fashionable at the Joseon royal court, it is one of very few surviving examples, along with the gasado held in the Hoam Art Museum and the gasado of Seonamsa Temple.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산