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Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Yongmunsa Temple, Yecheon

예천 용문사 목조아미타여래좌상 ( 醴泉 龍門寺 木造阿彌陀如來坐像 )

Heritage Search Detail
Classification Treasure
Name of Cultural Properties Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Yongmunsa Temple, Yecheon
Quantity 1
Designated Date 2010.02.24
Age
Address Yongmunsa Temple 381, Naeji-ri, Yongmun-myeon, Yecheon-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do

A two-sheet list of donors was found inside this Buddha statue, along with a prayer text. The list containing the names of hundreds of donors who funded the creation of the Buddhist sculpture and those of painters, carpenters and metal workers who participated in it, also provides information about other important facts, such as the details of the repair done on the ninth day in the fourth lunar month, 1515. This early 16th-century sculpture, created under a project led by the painter Yi Yeong-mun, according to the same text, is, therefore, an important example of a work by secular artists and artisans, and not by monk sculptors. Amitabha Buddha is represented in this sculpture, dressed in two layers of garments. The drapery, the chest, knees and feet are all very natural, and volume and depth are emphasized by underlining curved and bulged lines of the body. The eyes are almond-shaped, and the face has a raised nose bridge and protruded cheeks. Such facial details and the natural drapery reveal the lingering influence of the sculptural style of early Joseon, more precisely of the 15th century. This work, in other words, exhibits transitional characteristics manifested by sculptures created before the emergence of a trend toward more two-dimensional sculptures in the 16th century. This early 16th-century work, one of the extremely rare Buddhist sculptures bearing inscriptions surviving from the period, is of inestimable value, also for its artistic merit.