Beomeosa Temple Vairocana Buddha Assembly Painting

This painting, preserved at Beomeosa Temple, is a Vairocana Buddha Assembly Painting showing the Buddha Vairocana at the centre surrounded by various bodhisattvas and disciple figures. Painted in colour on a silk ground, the composition centres on a large, prominently emphasised image of Vairocana Buddha, around whom the bodhisattvas and disciples are arranged. The flesh areas of the main Buddha image are coated with a yellowish-white pigment, with the contours of the body rendered in fine, pale ink lines. The robe is painted in vermilion, over which white circular floral motifs and small floral motifs are scattered. Behind the head and body of the main image are circular halos symbolising the light emanating from the Buddha's body. Among the attendant figures, some faces lack pupils or have unfinished lip colouring, probably because the pigment has flaked away, exposing the underdrawing beneath. The sky area has lost a considerable amount of its ground layer, and the cloud patterns are rendered mainly in purple and malachite green. At the centre of the lower part of the painting is an inscription recording the history of the work, but the ground layer at the bottom has come away and the inscription itself is badly flaked. The Beomeosa Vairocana Buddha Assembly Painting is a work of the late Joseon period notable for its delicate depiction of figures and its vivid colouring centred on malachite green and vermilion; it is particularly valuable as a work linking the stylistic developments of various iconographic types in the 19th century.

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Where it is

Region

Geumjeong-gu, Busan

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료