Mok Buddha Triad of Bongeunsa Temple (Shakyamuni Bul, Gaseopjonja, Ananjonja)

The triad now enshrined in Yeongsanjeon Hall, behind Daeungjeon Hall at Bongeunsa Temple, comprises a seated wooden statue of Shakyamuni Buddha flanked by standing wooden statues of Gaseopjonja and Ananjonja as attendant figures; sixteen arhat (nahan) statues are enshrined to the left and right of the triad. The main Shakyamuni image has a body that conveys volume from side to side and from front to back, though the width of the knees is relatively narrow for the size of the body. In detail, the boundary between the head and the usnisha, the cranial protuberance symbolising enlightenment, is indistinct, so the head appears round as though wearing a helmet; a jewel is carved at its crown and a semicircular jewel at the centre of the forehead, with tightly curled hair covering the top of the head. The face is rounded and nearly square, with a horizontal hairline and somewhat flat features that give a calm impression, though the archaic touch of the raised corners of the mouth stands out. The shoulders are rounded, and the robe is worn in the ugyeon-pyeondan style, baring the right shoulder; the fold of drapery covering the right shoulder tucks into the waist, a so-called modified ugyeon-pyeondan style commonly seen in the late Joseon period. The upper edge of the undergarment shows at the chest, and fan-shaped drapery folds, highly schematic in form, are carved on both knees. The right hand hangs down as if in the earth-touching mudra (chokjiin), while the left hand, carved separately and fitted at the wrist, rests on the knee with the fingers slightly bent so that the thumb and middle finger touch. This gesture is frequently seen in late-Joseon Shakyamuni images, including the main Shakyamuni Buddha of the wooden seated Buddhas of the Three Ages in Daeungjeon Hall at Bulgapsa Temple (1635), made by the sculptor-monk Muyeom. To the left of the main image, Gaseopjonja is shown as an ascetic with a raised crown to the head and a youthful, smiling face; he wears a kasaya robe over a round-collared inner garment, with what appears to be a waist wrap added around the abdomen, below which a sash (sindae) hangs down between his feet, his hands joined in prayer. Ananjonja, on the right, has a shaven head in monastic form and likewise wears a kasaya robe over a round-collared inner garment, with the sash flowing down the centre of the skirt. The production record (hwagi) inscribed on the painting behind the Buddha in Yeongsanjeon Hall states that the triad was regilded in 1895, so the statues must originally have been made earlier than this. The Shakyamuni Buddha of Yeongsanjeon Hall at Bongeunsa Temple is a late-Joseon Buddhist statue in good condition; since the regilding in 1895 is recorded in the mural inscription and the original carving is presumed to date from earlier, around the late eighteenth century, it has been designated a Seoul Tangible Cultural Heritage.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산