Sixteen Arhats Painting of Suguksa Temple

Painted in 1907 by the supervising monks Boam Geungbeop and Duheum together with the master painters Bonggam, Beobyeon and Beomcheon, this is an Amitabha-backdrop-style painting commissioned by the chief donors Gang Munhwan and Gang Jaehui on imperial order, to pray for the long life of the Emperor, the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess Consort, Consort Eom, Crown Prince Ui and his consort, and Crown Prince Yeong. At the centre, within a large aureole, the Sakyamuni Triad is placed, and the panels to left and right are divided into a three-tier grid of rectangles, each holding one of the Sixteen Arhats. On the lower-left of the picture (as viewed), moving from the inner to the outer edge, are the First Venerable Pindola, the Third Venerable Kanaka Bharadvaja and the Fifth Venerable Nakula; in the middle tier, from inner to outer, the Seventh Venerable Kalika and the Ninth Venerable Jivaka; and in the upper tier, from inner to outer, the Eleventh Venerable Rahula, the Thirteenth Venerable Angada and the Fifteenth Venerable Ajita. On the right, from the lower tier inward to outward are the Second Venerable Kanakavatsa, the Fourth Venerable Subinda and the Sixth Venerable Bhadra; in the middle tier, the Eighth Venerable Vajraputra and the Tenth Venerable Panthaka; and in the upper tier, the Twelfth Venerable Nagasena, the Fourteenth Venerable Vanavasa and the Sixteenth Venerable Sudapanthaka. On the arhat panels with odd numbers, a red cartouche naming the arhat is placed in the upper left of the panel; on those with even numbers, it is placed in the upper right. At the centre, the Sakyamuni Triad sits in full lotus position against a great aureole. Sakyamuni himself forms the earth-touching gesture (bhumisparsha mudra); his thin brows and eyes, narrow lips and high usnisha closely resemble those of the principal Buddha in Suguksa Temple's Amitabha Painting of 1907. His outer robe, draped to leave the right shoulder bare, is richly decorated with coloured and gold patterns similar to those on the Amitabha's robe. On either side of Sakyamuni, the attendant bodhisattvas sit at ease in full lotus position on blue-lotus pedestals; the bodhisattva to the left holds nothing in the hands, while the one to the right holds a white lotus in both hands. Given that they are shown together with the Sixteen Arhats, these are thought to be the Triad of Prophecy, with Maitreya Bodhisattva on the left and Dipankara Bodhisattva on the right, though their attributes alone do not confirm this. The whole interior of the body-halo surrounding the Triad is covered in gold leaf, giving the impression of light radiating from the centre of the picture. To either side of the Triad, within evenly divided square frames, each of the Sixteen Arhats is depicted with individual character against a backdrop of mountains or valleys. Except for the Twelfth Venerable Nagasena and the Thirteenth Venerable Angada, each arhat is accompanied by one or two attendant boys or lay worshippers; the depiction of each arhat's situation within its own square frame is executed with great skill and good humour. The arhats are rendered at similar scale, and the colouring and brushwork are highly refined. In particular, gold pigment is used liberally on the arhats' robes and various implements, giving the picture both splendour and dignity. The colouring is based chiefly on red and green, together with flesh tones, gold leaf, gold pigment, blue, yellow and brown; blue is used sparingly, and the overall palette, calm yet luminous, gives a settled and stable feeling. The Suguksa Sixteen Arhats Painting depicts the Sakyamuni Triad together with the Sixteen Arhats, and shows a distinctive composition in which each arhat is set within its own square panel. This grid-divided composition was used in paintings of the Eight Scenes from the Buddha's Life, arhat paintings and Nine-Grade Rebirth paintings in the Seoul-Gyeonggi region from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, with the arhats each set within a fixed square frame to give an overall sense of order. Befitting a painting commissioned by the royal family, it also shows extensive use of gold leaf and gold pigment, together with assured brushwork and form and harmonious colouring.

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Where it is

Region

Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산