Go Seung Portrait of Yongchusa Temple, Hamyang

This is a portrait of the eminent monk Muhak Daesa (1327–1405), active from the late Goryeo to the early Joseon period. His ordination name was Jacho, and his sobriquet was Muhak. He left home to become a monk at eighteen, having his head shaved by the Reverend Sojiseonsa, and after studying the Buddha's teachings under State Preceptor Hyemyeong on Yongmunsan Mountain, he practised asceticism on Myohyangsan Mountain. In 1392, the first year of King Taejo of Joseon, he was summoned by the king, became his teacher, and helped search for a site for the new capital. He later stayed at Hoeamsa Temple and passed away at Geumjangam Hermitage on Geumgangsan Mountain. The portrait is painted in colour on silk and shows the subject facing to the viewer's left, seated in a chair with his feet resting on a footstool, in a full-length seated pose. In his left hand he holds the shaft of a Buddhist whisk (buljangja), and in his right hand its tassel. His face is coloured with a yellowish-white pigment, and the outlines are drawn in ink finer than the lines used for the clothing folds. The beard and hair are rendered by shading with pale ink and then adding fine dots of black and white. His monastic robe is a dark grey made by mixing indigo and ink, the kasaya (outer robe) is vermilion with an ochre lining, and the clothing folds and chair are painted lightly enough for the underdrawing to show through. A flower-patterned mat on the floor separates it from the background; its ground is coated with white pigment and marked with fine horizontal lines in pale brown drawn with a bamboo blade, with the edges painted vermilion and outlined in ink. An inscription on the painting records that it was made in the 46th year of the Qianlong reign, that is, 1781, the fifth year of King Jeongjo of Joseon, by the painter-monk Seongmin. The portrait of Muhak Daesa at Yongchusa Temple, Hamyang, is of academic value for the study of 18th-century portraits of eminent Buddhist masters (josa yeongjeong).

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Where it is

Region

Hamyang, Gyeongnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료