Seated Wooden Avalokitesvara and Votive Objects of Jeongbangsa Temple, Jecheon

The Seated Wooden Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva enshrined in the main hall of Jeongbangsa Temple, together with the votive objects recovered from inside it. Jeongbangsa Temple stands beneath a huge rock face near the summit of Geumsusan Mountain, in Neunggang-ri, Susan-myeon, Jecheon, and is said - though this is not certain - to have been founded by the Silla monk Uisang. The wooden Avalokitesvara is enshrined as the principal image in the main hall of Jeongbangsa Temple. Although relatively small in scale, it clearly displays the typical features of mid-Joseon-period bodhisattva statues. The face is somewhat small in proportion to the body, and the figure wears a tall jewelled crown bearing a small Buddha image carved on its front, identifying it as an image of Avalokitesvara. The body's proportions are well balanced but somewhat stiff in form, and the robe covers the right shoulder in a half-moon shape. The neck bears a simplified two-strand necklace, and the chest shows the horizontal folds of an inner garment - all typical features of Joseon-period bodhisattva statues. The left hand is raised and the right hand lowered, a hand gesture indicating that this bodhisattva was made as the left attendant bodhisattva of an Amitabha triad. Found inside this bodhisattva statue were a record stating that a Buddhist triad had been made, together with relics including a copy of the Lotus Sutra, which are now kept at the temple. However, since this record does not give the name of the temple where the statues were to be enshrined, it cannot be confirmed whether this bodhisattva was originally made for Jeongbangsa Temple. The principal Buddha and the right attendant bodhisattva of the original triad no longer survive. The votive text records the date "the twenty-eighth year of Kangxi...", indicating that the statue was made in the fifteenth year of King Sukjong of Joseon (1689). This wooden Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva of Gwaneumsa Temple is a beautifully balanced and serenely dignified bodhisattva image, and because the inscription found inside it gives its precise date of production, it provides valuable material for tracing the development of Buddhist statuary style.

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Where it is

Region

Jecheon, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산