Bronze Jong

This bronze Buddhist bell dates from the Goryeo period; judging from the inscription cast into its body, it is presumed to have been made around the 13th century. With an overall height of 25 cm and a mouth diameter of 15 cm, it is thought to be a small bell of the type used in Seon (meditation) Buddhist temples, a form popular in the late Goryeo period. The dragon-shaped hanging loop takes the form of a single dragon with one foot thrust forward and the other planted behind, its mouth open as if advancing forward. Behind the dragon's body is a plain sound tube, simplified and undecorated. On the crown plate two casting holes remain, and around its rim runs a band of upright floral ornament, though it has become highly stylised. This band of upright floral ornament, a decorative feature seen on the crown plates of late Goryeo bells, is usually rendered as a ruyi-head pattern, but here it takes the form of a five-petalled flower rising to a point at the top, with a round seed pod set at the centre and radiating lines carved around it, suggesting that it represents a lotus. On the upper band adjoining the crown plate, a lotus scroll pattern is sparsely rendered, and below the upper band four nipple compartments are attached, adjoining it. The compartments are trapezoidal, narrower at the top and slightly wider at the bottom, their borders decorated with a simplified scroll pattern and each containing nine nipple bosses arranged within. Below the nipple compartments, two figures and two striking panels are placed alternately. The two figures, carved at the front and back, sit with palms joined and legs crossed upon clouds; they wear crowns raised at the centre, and their facial features are rendered simply. The striking panels, likewise carved on the front and back faces, are typical Goryeo lotus-flower striking panels, with a large central seed pod and interstitial petals set between the seven main petals. The lower band is sparsely carved with a grape-vine scroll pattern. The body of the bell also bears an incised inscription of some forty characters. It records that the bell, a small bell, was cast with pooled contributions at Giyeonwon in Gongju, using a total of six geun of metal, and that it was made in the tenth month of a muin year. Although this small bell is of a simplified, stylised form, its inscription allows it to be dated to around 1278 or 1338, in the latter part of the Goryeo period, making it valuable material for the study of Goryeo bells.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gwanak-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산