Seven Stars Painting of Bongeunsa Temple

This painting, a Seven Stars Painting (Chilseongdo), is enshrined together with a Mountain God Painting and a Lone Sage Painting in Bukgeukbojeon Hall. It was created in April 1886 along with the altar painting behind the main Buddha (a Vairocana Buddha painting) and a Mountain God Painting for Pangjeon Hall, where it was originally enshrined, before being moved to Bukgeukbojeon Hall in 1942. Chiseonggwang Yeorae, the Buddha of the Pole Star, sits cross-legged on a lotus pedestal atop a carriage drawn by a white ox. He has a round face with a pointed usnisa (cranial protuberance); his right hand is raised to chest height with the fingers interlocked, while his left hand rests on his knee holding a golden wheel. The iconography of Chiseonggwang Yeorae seated in an ox-drawn carriage derives from a Hindu belief that the sun completes one circuit of the universe riding a white ox-cart each year, and this image of Chiseonggwang Yeorae on a white ox-cart was established early on in China and Korea; by the late Joseon period, however, he is usually shown seated cross-legged on an altar (sumidan) rather than riding an ox-cart. Even so, some Seven Stars Paintings made in the late nineteenth century — including those of Cheongnyongsa Temple (1868), Mitasa Temple in Seoul (1874), Donghaksa Temple (late nineteenth century) and Anyangam Hermitage in Seoul (1930) — still depict the white ox-cart, showing that the traditional iconography was faithfully carried on; the Bongeunsa Seven Stars Painting belongs to this same lineage. Below Chiseonggwang Yeorae, the deified sun and moon — Ilgwang Bosal and Wolgwang Bosal, bodhisattvas who dispel calamity with the light of the sun and moon respectively — bend forward, each wearing a crown painted with a red sun or a white moon, and press their palms together toward the main Buddha; beside them, two attendant boys make offerings of an incense burner and fruit. Beside the halo and body-light of Chiseonggwang Yeorae are the Twenty-eight Lunar Mansions, fourteen figures on each side, each wearing a crown painted with a star; further out are large figures of the Seven Star Buddhas, four to the left and three to the right. The Seven Star Buddhas, each surrounded by a green halo, face front or in profile and share the same round face and pointed usnisa as Chiseonggwang Yeorae. Below them stand the Seven Primordial Star Lords, shown as civil officials in red official robes and star-painted crowns; the star lord on the left wears a tasselled ceremonial crown (myeollyugwan), possibly following the convention of showing King Yeomna, the fifth of the Ten Kings of the underworld, wearing such a crown. Beside these figures, two attendant boys on each side hold up long banners. Above the Seven Star Buddhas are Taesangnogun, a Daoist deity, and the star Pilseong, while the upper left and right corners of the painting hold, respectively, Samtae (the Three Terraces) and Yukseong (Six Stars). The unusual height of the crown of Taesangnogun's head is notable. The colouring is dominated by red, green, blue and yellow, with red and blue especially prominent. The painting was produced under Deungun Suheun as the organising monk (hwaju), with the laywoman O Cheongjeongwol, born in the gyeongin year, as chief patron soliciting donations. O Cheongjeongwol is recorded as having served in the same role in 1892 for the production of the Three Buddhas painting, the Three Treasure Bodhisattvas painting and the Sweet Dew King painting in Daeungjeon Hall, and again in 1912 as chief sponsoring patron for the regilding of the three Buddha statues there, suggesting she was one of the important lay patrons of Bongeunsa Temple in the late nineteenth century. The votive inscription reads: in the twelfth year of the Guangxu era, the byeongsul year, in the fourth month (1886), this Sacred Seven Stars Painting was respectfully enshrined at Bongeunsa Temple. It lists those who took part in its production: the certifying monks Hobong and Eunggyu, Haneun Jeongjun, and Hwaneun Yunjeong; the chanting monk, the monk Gyecheon; the master painters Gyeongseon Eungseok, Dongho Jincheol, Hyeonjo and Hyejo; the provisions monk Yaknul; the bell-keeper, the monk Beopneung; the arrangements monk Sinyeong; the supervising monk Cheongha of Posa; and the organising monk Deungun Suheun. It then lists the donors: the husband Yi-ssi, born in the mujin year, and his wife Kim-ssi, born in the gyehae year, as a couple; the husband Yi Jae-sun, born in the sinhae year, and his wife Hong-ssi, born in the gyechuk year, as a couple; the husband Hwang Yeon-su, born in the byeongin year, and his wife Yi-ssi, born in the byeongin year, as a couple; and, as chief patron soliciting donations, the laywoman O-ssi, styled Cheongjeongwol, born in the gyeongin year. Overall, the painting shows delicate depiction of its many figures and a fluent brushwork built on firm, even outlines; although it contains a great number of figures, it reduces their size toward the top of the composition and turns them all to face Chiseonggwang Yeorae, drawing the viewer's eye to the main Buddha above. In particular, the image of Chiseonggwang Yeorae seated on a white ox-cart, rarely found elsewhere, also appears in the Seven Stars Painting of the Samseonggak Hall at Mitasa Temple, Seoul (1874) and that of Jeongsusa Temple (1878), showing that this painting faithfully continues the Seven Stars Painting iconography of the Seoul and Gyeonggi region in the late nineteenth century. It is accordingly designated a Seoul Metropolitan City Tangible Cultural Heritage.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산