Amitabha Buddha Assembly Painting and Preparatory Drawing of Jeongamsa Temple, Changwon

According to the ink inscription on the painting, this Buddhist painting was made in 1905 at Cheongnyeonam Hermitage of Beomeosa Temple by the monk-painter (geumeo) Daein, and was first enshrined at Seongjusa Temple; it was later moved to the Daeungjeon Hall of Jeongamsa Temple when the Jinhae mission hall was newly built. At the centre of the composition, the Buddha Amitabha sits in the full lotus position, flanked by Avalokiteshvara (Gwanseeum) Bodhisattva and Mahasthamaprapta (Daeseji) Bodhisattva, both seated in the relaxed 'playful' pose (yuhuijwa). To either side of Amitabha's head halo stand Ananda and Kasyapa, together with two arhat figures. At the upper left and right of the composition, six bodhisattvas, three to each side, descend on clouds to welcome the deceased to the Pure Land. The central Amitabha joins the thumb and middle finger of his left hand and places it before his abdomen, while his right hand, fingers extended, rests evenly on his right knee, forming a variant of the earth-touching gesture (hangma chokjiin); he sits on a lotus pedestal. Circular head and body halos are depicted, and rays of light extend from the top of the head halo in a parabolic arc to left and right. The broad shoulders and proportionate knee width give the figure a balanced physique; the flesh was painted white with a light wash of vermilion over it, and the contour lines were drawn in ink with a thin vermilion line added on top. Although this is a modern-period work, its composition is stable, and since the preparatory drawing has survived together with the finished painting, its artistic merit is all the more highly regarded.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Changwon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산