Buyeo Cheonjinjeondangunhwa Statue

This is a portrait of Dangun Wanggeom, the central figure of Korea's foundation myth. Korea's foundation myth varies slightly in detail from source to source, but the account handed down in the Samguk yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) and the Jewang ungi (Rhymed Chronicle of Emperors and Kings) runs as follows: "Hwanung obtained the permission of his father Hwanin and descended from heaven, intending to build a human world good to live in on Taebaeksan Mountain. He then married Ungnyeo, a bear transformed into a woman, and she bore him the human Wanggeom. Wanggeom set his capital at Pyeongyang, named his country Joseon, and after a reign of 1,908 years became the mountain spirit of Mount Asadal." Portraits of Dangun Wanggeom are enshrined throughout the country, but their form differs from one to another. According to legend, the Silla painter Solgeo met Dangun in a dream and received an original image from him, and a shrine on Guwolsan Mountain in Hwanghae-do is said to hold portraits of Hwanin, Hwanung and Wanggeom, though this has not been confirmed. This painting is a full-length portrait measuring 34 cm wide and 53 cm high, presumed to have been painted in the 1920s. It is relatively small compared with other portraits of Dangun, and the full figure is lightly coloured on Chinese synthetic silk. Gang U, an anti-Japanese independence activist and adherent of Daejonggyo, brought this painting from Hwanghae-do and passed it down to his son; it is now kept at the Buyeo National Museum.

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Where it is

Region

Buyeo, Chungnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료