Mountain Spirit Painting of Munsuam Hermitage, Boeun

Munsuam Hermitage is a branch temple (malsa) of Beopjusa Temple, located on a temple site in Sinham-ri, Boeun-eup, where building work is currently under way. The Mountain Spirit Painting (sanshindo) at Munsuam was originally enshrined in the Mountain Spirit Shrine of Bokcheonam Hermitage and was later moved to this temple; it measures 120 by 96 cm. The composition is built around the Mountain Spirit, the tiger that is his incarnation, and an attendant boy bearing offerings, set against a landscape background. The iconography and use of colour are simple and economical. The painting is generally well preserved, though the upper part has been discoloured by incense smoke and has lost its original tones. The Munsuam Mountain Spirit Painting is small in scale and simple in composition. In a space set toward the right of the picture are the Mountain Spirit, a boy attendant holding a tray of fruit, and a tiger curled around the Mountain Spirit's waist. A pine tree rises behind them, one of its thick branches curving down toward the left of the picture as if to shelter the Mountain Spirit's party. On the left, steep mountain ridges and a waterfall unfold in the distance. The work keeps the Mountain Spirit as its central focus while the overall composition remains relatively simple. The painters were Geumho Yakhyo, Byeongbeop, Sun-gwan and others — the same painters and the same date as the Painting of the Three Buddhas of the Three Ages (1909) now enshrined in the Geungnakbojeon Hall of Bokcheonam Hermitage. According to its inscription, the Bokcheonam Mountain Spirit Painting now held at Munsuam was produced in the fifth month of 1909 (the third year of the Yunghui era) by a group of monk-painters including the master painter-monk (geumeo) Geumho Yakhyo, who arranged a tiger and an attendant boy-monk around the central Mountain Spirit. The background consists of oddly-shaped rocks and old pines, with the overall palette dominated by ochre and red, complemented by green and white. The painting is notable for its delicate depiction of its subject and for clearly expressing the stylistic features of its period, with a clearly documented date of production.

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Where it is

Region

Boeun, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산