Namhae Yongmunsa Temple Sansin Buddhist Painting

In the composition, the natural setting seems of secondary importance: rocky peaks, a waterfall, the sky with auspicious clouds, and old pines form a distant background, while the main subjects — the mountain god (Sansin) and a lion — fill the picture plane together. In front of an old pine rising at an angle in a deep mountain valley, the mountain god, his build so large as to appear somewhat ponderous, sits with a long staff in his right hand planted on the ground and an elixir plant of immortality in his left, leaning his body against a huge tiger and gazing fixedly toward the right. He wears a white undergarment, over which is a round-collared robe (danryeongpo) decorated at the edges with a white semicircular pattern filled with grass motifs, tied with a sash across the chest and belly in a way that gives a somewhat busy impression. His hair is combed up into a topknot at the crown, over which he wears a black gauze cap (chiporgwan), and above that a transparent horsehair net decorated with small circular patterns. His face is painted brown, with shading applied to the deep wrinkles of the forehead, the chin, the philtrum and the eye sockets. The hair and beard are painted in pale ink and rendered delicately with fine white and black lines. The tiger against which the mountain god leans is painted as large as the mountain god himself; its large, bell-like eyes have black pupils, with the surrounding area painted alternately in brown and green and the outermost rim in deep red, emphasising eyes fitting for a tiger. The nose, painted red and outlined in ink, and the teeth and tongue playfully protruding from the mouth give a humorous air. Meanwhile, the soft, snow-white fur above the eyelids and the fur over the body are depicted hair by hair in fine detail, more than sufficient to create a sense of unity between the tiger and the mountain god. The two thick, sturdy forelegs are planted apart and braced powerfully, the chest thrust forward and the face turned as if to shield and protect the mountain god, while the tail, stretching out in an S-curve along the extended back, also appears full of dynamic force. Behind the tiger a heavenly attendant boy, the mountain god's page, flutters a blue celestial robe over his shoulders and holds up offerings on a white tray with both hands. The waterfall falling forcefully in the distant view, the white clouds floating in the clear sky, the dotted brushwork of varying sizes painted over brown as if to mark the age of the old pine, and the fan-shaped pine needles — together with this landscape — are fully sufficient to express the power of the mountain god and the tiger.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Namhae, Gyeongnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료