Brahma with Attendants and Musicians

In the pictureMore than twenty figures stand in rows across a picture over 2 meters in height and width. The largest figure, in the center, is Brahma, and the figures around him wear crowns and hold instruments or ritual objects. Some red and green remain, but the colors have faded overall to a brownish cast. Clouds and halo ornaments appear at the top.

BackgroundBrahma is the Indian god who entered Buddhism and became a guardian deity protecting the Buddha's teachings. Paintings of guardian deities like this were hung on the side walls of a worship hall to honor the gods who protect the Dharma, and the fact that this one is painted on hemp suggests that temples were not well off around the time of the Imjin War (the Japanese invasions of Korea). Each figure has a different face and there are many kinds of instruments, so the painting is also used as a source on musical instruments of the Joseon dynasty.

Puzzle tipNearly square and densely packed with figures, it stays manageable even at higher piece counts. Assemble Brahma's large face and red robe in the center first, then place the surrounding figures row by row using the white pieces of their faces. The clouds and halo pieces at the top have distinctive shapes and are easy to tell apart.