Sixteen Arhats Painting of Bongeunsa Temple

This is four of the seven Buddhist paintings produced and enshrined in 1895, when Yeongsanjeon Hall was built; the Sixteen Arhats (nahan) are divided across these four panels. They now hang two panels each to the left and right of the afterimage painting in Yeongsanjeon Hall: each of the sixteen venerable ones was originally painted individually, with four venerable ones grouped onto each panel, making four panels in total. However, the paintings of the 10th, 11th, 13th and 15th venerable ones were lost, and were repainted in 1955 by Manbong and Seokseong. In a typical Sixteen Arhats painting the odd-numbered venerable ones are placed on the viewer's right and the even-numbered ones on the left, but here the sequence has been disturbed by the insertion of the replacement panels. At present, moving from the centre of the right side toward the entrance, the panels show the 16th, 1st, 12th and 14th venerable ones, then the 9th venerable one together with three newly painted ones; moving from the centre of the left side toward the entrance, they show the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th venerable ones, then the 7th, 5th and 3rd, together with one newly painted venerable one. In other words, only one panel on the left retains its original sequence, while the others have the venerable ones mixed up, causing confusion. In the upper left corner of each panel the name of the venerable one is written in black ink on a vermilion ground, allowing each to be identified. Votive inscriptions survive in four places — beneath the 3rd and 4th venerable ones, beneath the 16th, and between the 5th and 7th — showing that in 1895 many monk-painters took part in the work, including Sanggyu, Gyeongseon Eungseok, Jongseon, Changmin, Seongjeon, Gyeonghyeop, Jaegyeom, Geumgok Yeonghwan, Yeongmyeong Cheongi, Hanbong Changyeop, Deokwol Eungnyun, Heogok Geungsun, Geumha Gihyeong, Geumseong Seongjeon, Beomhwa Yunik and Seonmyeong. All the arhats are seated against a background of deep mountains and valleys, wearing a long monastic robe over the kasaya, or with their robes loosely open, each attended by an acolyte and a young page. They take a variety of postures: some sit with hands folded in meditation (the 1st); some turn prayer beads in ascetic practice (the 2nd); some loosen their robes and lean comfortably against a tree, reading a sutra (the 4th); some burst into laughter at a page showing off a trick (the 8th); some sit with knees drawn up (the 14th); and some hold a staff between their knees, listening to an acolyte (the 12th). Most of the arhats appear either as young novice monks or as white-haired old men; the 3rd venerable one, Kanakabharadvaja, is shown with a gaunt frame and his hands demurely folded before his stomach, an image that conveys well the look of an arhat who has practised austerities for a long time. The faces of the arhats shown as young ascetics are shaded lightly, while the elderly arhats, such as the 8th and 16th, are shaded comparatively strongly, perhaps to emphasise their wrinkles. Most are seated on rocks, a straw mat, or a straw cushion, but the 5th, 6th and 16th are shown with a folding screen or curtain around them, giving the impression that they are indoors. The mountain-and-water landscape forming the background is painted in the blue-and-green style and recalls the backgrounds of folk paintings of the late Joseon period; the trees standing in a single row along the mountain tops, like a dividing strip, are a motif commonly found in Gamnodo (paintings of the sweet-dew ritual) from the Seoul and Gyeonggi region in the nineteenth century, and it appears that the monk-painters of this work, who also took part in producing Gamnodo, used the same motif here. Further votive inscriptions record that the panels were enshrined at Bongeunsa Temple on Sudosan Mountain, Gwangju, and name those involved: the administrator Gihyeon; the mantra reciter Yongho Yeongju; the hall attendant Taehwan; the chief painter Sanggyu; the monks Seongjeon and Gyeonghyeop; the novice Jaegyeom; the supply officer Sangchan; the bell-keeper Ilu; and the chief patron Jaseon; and, among the donors, the laywoman Song-ssi Jinmyeonghwa (born in a byeongsin year), her late husband of the Yeosan Song clan (born in a jeongchuk year), her late mother of the Jeonju Yi clan (born in a gyeyu year), her late mother of the Yeoju Yi clan (born in a musul year), and her late grandfather-in-law of the Yeonan Yi clan (born in a gapjin year). A separate inscription on the panel of the sixteen venerable ones names the certifier Seolbong Taemun, the mantra reciter Yongho Yeongju, the hall attendant Taehwan, the chief painter Sanggyu, Gyeongseon Eungseok, the monk Jongseon, the novice Changmin, the supply monk Sangchan, the bell-keeper Ilu, the superintendent Wolbong Beopneung, and the chief patron Haeong Jaseon, closing with the wish that, through the merit of this act, the donors might receive the Buddha's prophecy of future buddhahood and be reborn in the Pure Land of Utmost Bliss. This painting depicts all sixteen arhats, each seated with an acolyte and a page against a background of deep mountains and valleys, divided across four panels; at present the paintings of the 10th, 11th, 13th and 15th venerable ones have been lost, leaving only twelve of the original figures. Although four have been lost, this is an arhat painting produced with the large-scale participation of leading monk-painters of the Seoul and Gyeonggi region in the nineteenth century, and a work through which the regional style of Buddhist painting in that region can be studied; it is accordingly designated as a Tangible Cultural Heritage of Seoul. The four panels newly made in 1955 are excluded from the designation. Moreover, since this arhat painting currently has four panels missing and its sequence entirely disturbed, it should be remounted and re-enshrined in its original order.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산