Standing Icheon Jaseok-ri Stone Buddha

This is a standing stone Buddha, 2.5 metres tall, set in the open air to the left of Daeungjeon Hall at Yeonhwajeongsa Temple in Seolseong-myeon, Icheon. Apart from the three lines (samdo) on the neck — folds symbolising wisdom — the body shows no carved folds in the robe, nor any rendering of the arms and legs. The absence of robe folds is not the result of wear but was original to the design, and together with the flat treatment of the body is a feature seen in works of the Goryeo period. The statue is made of two stones, divided at chest height into upper and lower sections. On the head it wears a round canopy (bogae), modelled on the parasol used in India to shade persons of rank when travelling and here placed over the Buddha's head like a hat; the canopy is one of the features of Goryeo-period Buddha statues found mainly in Chungcheong-do and the southern part of Gyeonggi-do. The face is a long oval, with a white tuft (baekho), one of the Buddha's auspicious marks, at the centre of the forehead. The eyes, nose and mouth are small, and the ears are rendered relatively short. The pillar-like body, flat and without volume both front and back, the simplified robe folds, the round hat worn on the head, and the small features of the face together with the short neck and narrow shoulders, all suggest that this is a Buddha statue of the Goryeo period. In particular, the head canopy and the simplified robe folds on the pillar-like body reflect a style of Buddha statue that was popular in the early Goryeo period, centred on the southern part of Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong-do, and the statue is considered to carry on the lineage of this regional style.

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Where it is

Region

Icheon, Gyeonggi

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료