Tongdosa Temple Geungnagam Hermitage Seated Stone Avalokitesvara, Yangsan

This Avalokitesvara (Gwanseeum Bosal) statue, enshrined in Muryangsujeon Hall at Tongdosa Temple's Geungnagam Hermitage, has both hands joined in front of the abdomen, with a kundika (a ritual water vessel) currently resting in the left palm. The head is very large in proportion to the body, while the shoulders are narrow. The crown worn on the head has an upper section forming an eight-petalled curve, and its front and sides are decorated with scrolling foliage patterns. A topknot-like ornament rises at the top of the crown, its base finished with a gilt band, and the hair flowing down past the earlobes forms rounded loops on both shoulders before falling in three strands. The hair exposed below the crown along the hairline is divided into sections and rendered with incised lines as if combed, though the spacing is not uniform. The face, tilted slightly downward, is square and wider than it is long (length:width = 8.3:10.9 cm). The forehead is flat and broad; the small, narrow eyes are shallowly carved in a horizontal line; and the low nose has the sides of the nostrils lightly incised, though the nostrils themselves are not separately indicated. The lips, too, are shallowly carved, the upper lip slightly thicker than the lower, with both corners turning up slightly and a small indentation giving the impression of a faint smile. The hands rest on the knees with the left overlapping the right, supporting a small kundika above it. The robe is draped over both shoulders in the form of a narrow shawl-like celestial garment (cheonui), the back gathered into two gently curving U-shaped folds. The hems of the cheonui falling beneath both armpits form rounded loops below the elbows before passing back over the wrists and falling downward, and the ends draped over the shoulders flare slightly outward. The cheonui wrapped around the wrists is over 2 cm thick, a feature also seen in stone sculptures of the late Joseon period. On the chest, an undergarment (seunggakgi) gathered in folds like flower petals is visible. The skirt-like garment (gunui) wrapping the lower body is carved with two evenly spaced folds on either side of the feet, but these are treated in a stiff, formulaic manner rather than naturally. The bodhisattva's hands and feet are very small and blunt, with the nails shallowly incised — another feature characteristic of stone statues of the late Joseon period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yangsan, Gyeongnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료