Tongdosa Temple Samyeongam Hermitage Nectar Ritual Painting, Yangsan

This painting is preserved at Tongdosa Temple. A "gamnotaeng" (nectar ritual painting) is a Buddhist painting depicting the scene of guiding sentient beings fallen into hell toward paradise. Painted in colour on a cotton ground, this hanging painting shows traces of panels joined together vertically, and its composition is broadly divided into two tiers, upper and lower. At the centre of the upper tier stand the Seven Buddhas on lotus flowers, below which is an altar laid with an incense burner, candlesticks, flowers and confections. To the right stand three bodhisattva images, including Jijang (Kshitigarbha) and Gwaneum (Avalokiteshvara), on lotus-patterned pedestals, surrounded by clouds, and below them is depicted a procession of a king and his retinue against a backdrop of a fortress wall. On the opposite side, to the left, is the figure of Illowang Bosal, the bodhisattva who guides the spirits of the dead, beneath whom ritual-performing monks are shown. In the centre of the lower tier, around a huge hungry ghost encircled by clouds, are depicted scenes of hell, a troupe of itinerant performers tightrope walking (jultagi), and scenes of fighting and war. According to an inscription in the lower part of the painting, it was produced with the participation of the painter-monks Hwanwol, Sangnim, Seonghwan and others. The Nectar Ritual Painting of Samyeongam Hermitage, Tongdosa Temple, shows partial discolouration, staining and flaking of pigment, but is regarded as important academic material for the study of Joseon-period Buddhist painting history.

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Where it is

Region

Yangsan, Gyeongnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료