Huirangdae Wooden Seated Ksitigarbha of Haeinsa Temple, Hapcheon

The pedestal of the statue is fixed all around with 15 nails, which allows the fastening technique used for pedestals at the time to be confirmed. On the underside of the pedestal, the date of production, the temple of original enshrinement, the donors and the maker are recorded in red ink, though some of the names of the donors and the painter-sculptor have flaked away. It is a small wooden statue 30 cm in height, a Ksitigarbha with a square face and a bare, unadorned head. It follows the characteristic late-Joseon feature of a head large relative to the body; the overall proportions are balanced, though the shoulders are somewhat narrow and the knees rather high, and the two hands are carved large for the scale of the statue. The face is square with a broad forehead, marked by eyes drawn long from the bridge of the nose to the side of the face, a sharp triangular nose, and a mouth that juts forward, giving an unsmiling, rather sombre expression. The hand gesture is the Amitabha mudra: the right hand is raised before the chest with thumb and middle finger touching, while the left hand rests on the knee in the same gesture. The right shoulder is covered by an inner robe (pyeonsam), over which is worn an outer robe (daeui) of the modified both-shoulders-covered type, draped lightly over both shoulders and especially the right; the hem of the inner robe is drawn out below the belly beyond the outer robe, forming the overall 'W' shape typical of late-Joseon statues. On the back, the fold of the outer robe flowing from the left shoulder is treated simply, and below the flat, plain chest the horizontal undergarment (seunggakgi) and the hem of the skirt below the ankles are arranged symmetrically on both sides. An inscription on the underside of the pedestal records that in 1677 (the 16th year of the Kangxi reign), when the Buddhist triad in the main hall of Ssanggyesa Temple on Buryeongsan Mountain was being repaired, a Ksitigarbha statue was newly made at the same time and moved to Gaseobam Hermitage in Indong. The painter-sculptor who made it cannot be identified with certainty, since part of the inscription is erased, but he is presumed to be a figure named Jagyu, whose activity is documented from 1655 to 1677 and who is known as a monk-painter active mainly in the Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk regions. This bare-headed Ksitigarbha shows features widespread in the 17th century — the bodily proportions, the square face, the modified both-shoulders-covered robe — with drapery folds that are simple yet well organised, and an unusually long, sideways-drawn eye and slightly protruding mouth that are distinctive. Jagyu, the presumed sculptor, is known to have worked in the Gyeongsangnam-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do region only as an assistant monk-painter and as a restorer, with no previously identified case of his having made a statue as lead artisan; if this statue at Huirangdae of Haeinsa Temple is indeed his work, it is an important piece for understanding his artistic style.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hapcheon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산