Shakyamuni triad
Shakyamuni on a lotus pedestal with two bodhisattvas, painted in gold and color in 1565, the year Queen Munjeong commissioned Buddhist paintings en masse. Full commentary ↓
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Shakyamuni triad is a painting by an unknown maker (1565) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 60.5 × 32 cm.
In the pictureOn dark silk, Shakyamuni Buddha in a red robe sits within a round halo, and below him to the left and right stand two bodhisattvas in ornate crowns. The patterns of the garments are painted in gold, and on either side are inscriptions written in red panels. At 60 cm tall, it is a relatively small painting.
Background1565 is the year Queen Munjeong, mother of King Myeongjong, had 400 Buddhist paintings made to commemorate the rebuilding of Hoeamsa Temple. Several small Buddhist paintings in gold and color from this period are thought to have come from that project, and this painting is considered part of that group. It was rare for the royal court of Joseon, a Confucian state, to sponsor a Buddhist undertaking on this scale, so these paintings have become benchmark works of early Joseon Buddhist painting.
Puzzle tipThere is a lot of dark background, but the red robe, the gold lines of the halo, the two bodhisattvas' crowns and the inscription panels on either side are clues. Complete the circle of the Buddha's halo at the top first; the two bodhisattvas below are symmetrical, so tell them apart by differences in the patterns of their garments. 48 or 100 pieces is about right.
- Period
- Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)
- Culture
- Korea
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; color and gold on silk
- Dimensions
- 60.5 x 32 cm
- Credit line
- Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- Faces That Are Not Bodhisattvas: A Monk's Portrait and a Hand-Copied Sutra
Korean Buddhist art brings bodhisattvas to mind first, but it also includes portraits of monks, sutras written in gold powder, and paintings of guardian deities. Five works show another side.
- From Goryeo Buddhist Paintings to Joseon Screens: 18 Korean Paintings as Puzzles
From Goryeo Buddhist paintings to Joseon-era literati painting, portraits, landscapes and folding screens. A genre-by-genre tour of the 18 Korean paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, each one a puzzle.
