Namhae Yongmunsa Temple Three Bodhisattvas Buddhist Painting

The composition of this Samjang Bosal Taeng, a Buddhist painting depicting the Three Bodhisattvas, is arranged in two registers: the upper register places the three bodhisattva figures and their attendants, while the lower register contains various guardian deity figures. In the upper register, Cheonjang Bodhisattva stands at the centre, flanked by Jinju Bodhisattva and Daejinju Bodhisattva, shown with hands joined in prayer. To their left (the viewer's right) stand Jiji Bodhisattva together with Yongsu Bodhisattva and Darani Bodhisattva in attendance, while to their right (the viewer's left) the formally posed Jijang Bodhisattva (Ksitigarbha) is flanked by Domyeong and Mudok Gwiwang, the ghost king, both shown with hands joined in prayer. At the top of the picture, only the upper bodies of the assembled retinue — heavenly beings, guardian spirits and underworld officials — are depicted, filling the space. In the lower part of the picture, two child attendants are shown at the centre alongside twenty-two guardian deity figures arranged in two rows. Clouds are placed between the upper and lower registers and between the bodhisattvas and their attendants, marking out the different figural groups, and the lower part of the picture is coloured ochre to represent the ground on which the guardian deities stand. The dominant colours are vermilion, malachite green and flesh-tone, with blue and grey used in places. The flesh areas of the three bodhisattvas are painted in a flesh-tone base outlined in ink, with contours then added in fine pale brown lines; the eyebrows, moustaches and beards are coloured in a deep malachite green. This work was made in the same period as the Guardian Deities Painting (1897) hanging on the opposite wall of Daeungjeon Hall at Yongmunsa Temple. It too is relatively large (186.3cm high by 255.5cm wide), has value as material for the study of nineteenth-century iconography of the Three Bodhisattvas, and shows notable artistic quality, and has accordingly been designated a Cultural Heritage Material.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Namhae, Gyeongnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료