Guardian Deities Painting of Buryeongsa Temple, Uljin

This painting of guardian deities (sinjung taenghwa), enshrined in the Daeungbojeon Hall of Buryeongsa Temple in Uljin, is painted in colour on a hemp ground. Its overall dimensions are 230.5 cm in height and 236.2 cm in width, with the painted surface measuring 214.5 cm by 223.1 cm. Against the background of an eight-panel screen, the upper register depicts Indra (Jeseok) and Brahma (Beomcheon), while the lower register centres on Skanda (Witaecheon), flanked left and right by armed members of the Eight Legions of Heavenly Dragons. This composition was the most favoured format and accounts for the majority of surviving guardian-deity paintings. Indra and Brahma are surrounded by the Heavenly Host, including the sun and moon devas, bodhisattvas and celestial musicians. Below them, Skanda, clad in armour and a feather-plumed helmet, stands holding a forked trident upright with both hands; in the front row to his left and right are placed, three to a group, the Four Heavenly Kings and the Eight Legions of Heavenly Dragons. In the row behind, the mountain spirit, wearing a transparent hood and grass robe and holding a white feather fan, is arranged together with the Bright Kings and the Dragon King Sagara. The colouring achieves a beautiful harmony of red and green, while the prominent, liberal use of blue and white brightens the composition yet keeps it calm and restrained. An inscription at the bottom of the painting records that it was produced in 1860 (the 11th year of King Cheoljong) by five painter-monks led by the master painter Uiun Jau. Uiun(dang) Jau (active 1856-1873) was a painter-monk who worked mainly at Daeseungsa Temple on Sabulsan Mountain and travelled as far as Gyeongsang-do and Gangwon-do; he held the title of Dochongseop, the highest monastic rank a painter-monk could attain, and most of his surviving works are preserved in the Gyeongsang-do region. Apart from traces of dripped candle wax at the bottom, this painting is in relatively good condition; its precise depiction of form, harmonious colouring, vigorous brushwork and vivid patterning and ornament mark it as an outstanding example among nineteenth-century Buddhist paintings, and it is accordingly designated a Tangible Cultural Heritage.

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Where it is

Region

Uljin, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산