Seated Wooden Bodhisattva of Cheongnyeonam Hermitage, Danyang

This image is enshrined as the principal Buddha of Cheongnyeonam Hermitage, which stands right beside Sainam Rock in Danyang. The statue was originally one of an Amitabha triad, the Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta, enshrined when Cheongnyeonam stood at San 28, Hwangjeong-ri, Danyang. When the hermitage was relocated to its present site in 1954, the original principal image was lost; the Avalokitesvara bodhisattva is said to have been enshrined at Wongaksa Temple in Jecheon, while the Mahasthamaprapta bodhisattva was brought here. Sacred deposits remained inside the statue until recently but are now said to have been stolen. Because the front of the body and crown were covered with a thick, flaking layer of gilding, it was difficult to judge the material or the stylistic detail of the statue. The gilding was recently stripped and the image regilded, and once the gold leaf was removed it was confirmed that the form of an old wooden Buddha survived well beneath it. The wood is ginkgo; the carving technique joins a separate piece only at the front of the knees, while the body is carved as a single continuous block and the head, too, is carved from one piece of wood. The bodhisattva wears a tall crown, and in overall proportion the face is relatively small compared with the body. Inside the crown the hair is bound up high, with some locks let down over the shoulders. As is typical of Buddhist images of the late Joseon period, the robe is worn in the pyeondan-ugyeon style, covering only the right shoulder, with an inner pyeonsam vest beneath. The way the hem of this inner vest is caught under the outer robe is rendered in a stylised manner, producing a rounded fold across the abdomen that doubles over sideways, a feature often seen in wooden statues from the North Chungcheong region. The hands, forming the Amitabha mudra, were carved separately and inserted, and are carved larger in proportion to the body. The crown, likewise of wood, has flame, cloud and bird motifs carved in metal and attached to its surface, though these show some corrosion. The volume of the knees is well realised, the folds of the robe flow gracefully, and the simple yet soft volume of the body is well expressed. The square-cut line on the back was cut to hollow out the interior when the statue was carved and has since been reglued. The exact date of this image cannot be determined, but on stylistic grounds it is related to the wooden Buddhist triad at nearby Silleuksa Temple in Jecheon, made in 1730, the eighth year of the Yongzheng era, and is presumed to date from the first half of the eighteenth century. The seated wooden Mahasthamaprapta bodhisattva of Cheongnyeonam is a relatively large image which, together with the wooden Avalokitesvara bodhisattva at Wongaksa Temple in Jecheon, is said to have originally formed part of Cheongnyeonam's Amitabha triad, and the two do indeed share the same stylistic features. A characteristic rounded fold doubled over sideways across the abdomen is likewise seen in the seated wooden bodhisattva at Silleuksa Temple in Jecheon (1730), and it illustrates well a stylistic trait that was popular in the North Chungcheong region in the first half of the eighteenth century.

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Where it is

Region

Danyang, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산