Eungjinjeon Hall Vulture Peak Assembly Painting of Mahasa Temple

This painting, preserved in Eungjinjeon Hall of Mahasa Temple, is a Vulture Peak Assembly painting depicting Sakyamuni Buddha preaching on Vulture Peak. Painted in colour on cotton, it shows the Buddha seated at the centre on a lotus-patterned pedestal; in front of him, to left and right, stand four bodhisattvas in attendance holding their ritual attributes, while behind him are arranged four disciples, including Ananda and Kasyapa. At each side of the composition stand two of the Four Heavenly Kings, the guardian deities of Buddhism. The Buddha's flesh is painted in a yellow ground with fine red lines marking the contours of the body. The hair is coloured ultramarine, with outlines drawn in ink. The eyebrows and beard are emphasised with a single bold stroke of malachite green, and the lips are rendered in pink (jugu, a pigment traditionally used for lips in Buddhist painting). The outer surface of the kasaya, the monk's robe worn by the Buddha, is painted red and its lining ultramarine. The bodhisattvas' faces are treated in much the same manner as the Buddha's. Apart from the Buddha and bodhisattvas, the other figures are shaded with red over a pink ground to suggest volume, their bodily contours and drapery folds likewise picked out in red. Green and purple cloud motifs fill the upper part of the composition. The dominant colours are malachite green, ultramarine, red and yellow, and gold leaf is applied to the bodhisattvas' crown ornaments, the attribute held by Manjusri Bodhisattva, and the crown ornaments, armour and attributes of the Four Heavenly Kings. Particularly striking is the banner held by Vaisravana, the heavenly king positioned to the viewer's left: against an ochre ground, a lotus-and-scrolling-vine design is built up thickly in white with a strong sense of volume, its folds rendered with great delicacy, while the roots of the eyebrows and beard are picked out boldly and impressively in ink. An inscription at the lower left and right of the composition records that this Vulture Peak Assembly painting was made in the gyeongsul year, 2937 years after the Buddha's descent to the world, that is, in 1910. With its delicate and striking rendering of Vaisravana, the Vulture Peak Assembly painting of Eungjinjeon Hall at Mahasa Temple is valuable material for studying the style and lineage of Buddhist art in the Busan and Gyeongnam region in the late Joseon period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeonje-gu, Busan

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료