I ABOUT THE TITLE

The general perception of Goryeo Buddhist paintings is their beautiful coloring, fine gold decoration, the popularity and continuation of fixed iconographies, radical composition, and their high-class aristocratic ambience. Indeed, the style, iconography, and patronage by royalty and the ruling class are key elements of Goryeo Buddhist painting. These issues were addressed by Chung Woothak and Kim Junghee at the international symposium on "Goryeo Buddhist Paintings in the Context Of East Asia" held at the National Museum of Korea on October 28, 2010.

However, the objective of this paper is to discuss some of the questions I have always had about the subject of Goryeo Buddhist painting. That is, of the 160 some Goryeo Buddhist paintings known to be extant, it has been confirmed that all of them are painted on silk. How was the silk woven? And what effect did that have on the style of the paintings? Most Goryeo Buddhist paintings are produced on one single width of silk. This being the case, what did the width of the silk imply and what impact did it have on the composition of the painting?

Moreover, it was hard not to be interested in the system of enshrining the paintings. While votive offerings were enshrined with the statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, would not the same system have applied to paintings? It is believed that Buddhist paintings were generally commissioned by the royal family or members of the ruling class to hang in private shrines, but do we have any concrete knowledge of where the paintings were really enshrined? These are the issues that will be brought up in this paper, issues which deviate somewhat deviate from the mainstream discussion but are very closely related to it.

In order to answer the above questions, a preliminary approach will be taken to the subject. If we look at the issues surrounding Goryeo Buddhist painting, that is, the issues in the margins, at some point the resonance will be felt at the center and it is hoped that this will stimulate greater interest in Goryeo Buddhist painting and inspire young researchers to achieve various outcomes.

II THE SILK FOR GORYEO BUDDHIST PAINTINGS—STRUCTURE OF THE WEAVE

It has been confirmed that the 160 some extant Goryeo Buddhist paintings were all painted on silk. When the structure of the silk is photographed under a microscope, zoomed to 50 times the size, the following facts can be observed from studying the structure of the silk warp and weft threads.2 Most of the Goryeo paintings are done on fabric made with a variation on the plain weave (or tabby weave), in which the warp and weft threads are evenly balanced. In the variation, there is a space after every two warp threads while the weft threads are evenly spaced and heavier.3 The plain weave can be called Type A and the variation Type B.

Type A is the most common type of weave used in simple woven fabrics and includes cotton and linen fabrics.4 This type of weave was rarely used for Goryeo Buddhist paintings, but is not uncommon for the Buddhist paintings of the Joseon dynasty or the Ming dynasty of China.

As mentioned, Type B is a variation on Type A. The surface texture of the fabric has furrows in the warp direction.5 Such striped fabric is called dudukjik or mujik in Korean,6 and is commonly known as the rib weave or Oxford weave in English. It is understood that most Goryeo Buddhist paintings are produced on such rib weave fabric, which in turn can be divided into two sub-types.

In the first sub-type, Type B-a, the weft threads are almost twice as thick as the warp threads. Some paintings with this kind of silk are Amitabha with Eight Great Bodhisattvas (14th century) at Banna-ji in Tochigi; Amitabha Triad (I) and Amitabha Triad (III) (14th century) in the Nezu Museum in Tokyo; Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (14th century) at Nara National Museum; Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (14th century) at Tanzan Jinja in Nara; Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (14th century) at Shōjuraigō-ji in Ōtsu; Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (14th century) at Jōraku-ji; Kshitigarbha with the Ten Kings of Hell (14th century) at Okayama; Kshitigarbha (14th century) at Zendō-ji, Fukuoka; and Arhats (1235) at Tokyo National Museum.

Among them, the painting at Banna-ji is tightly and finely woven; on the other hand the works at Nezu Museum (I) and Nara National Museum are painted on fabric with thin warp and weft threads and wide intervals between the weft threads. The canvases for the other Nezu Museum piece (III) and the Hōdō-ji pieces are neatly and finely woven, but the intervals between the warp threads are wider than those of the weft threads. This structure in particular is almost identical in terms of thickness of threads and weave as that of the painting Shakyamuni Entering Nirvana in the collection of Nara National Museum, painted by Lu Xinzhong, a professional artist working in the Ningbo area of China during the Southern Song and Yuan period.7

In the second sub-type, Type B-b, the weft threads are more than twice as thick as the warp threads. Examples of paintings in this category include Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (1310) at Kagami Jinja; Amitabha with Eight Great Bodhisattvas (14th century) at Jōkyō-ji, Kyoto; Fifteen Thousand Buddhas (13th century) at Fudō-in, Hiroshima; Amitabha with Eight Great Bodhisattvas (14th century) at Tokugawa Art Museum; Amitabha with Eight Great Bodhisattvas (13th century) at Kōfukugokokuzen-ji, Saga.

As shown above, most Goryeo Buddhist paintings are done on silk in a variation of plain weave that is stronger and more durable than satin weave and gauze weave fabrics. Of course, it is less glossy than satin weave but smoother and shinier than ordinary plain weave. In addition, in the case of painting over or painting from the back, rib weave allows for stronger expression of texture and depth than ordinary plain weave.

In terms of thickness of the threads, some fabrics showed warp and weft threads of equal thickness (1:1), others showed warp threads thinner than weft threads (1: 1.5-2.0), and in terms of tightness of weave, relatively tightly-woven fabrics had narrow furrows between every two threads, and loosely woven fabrics had relatively wide furrows. In the case where the warp and weft threads are of even thickness and neatly woven, the silk has a smooth, even texture, enabling more stable color adhesion and finer brushwork.

• Image Download
• Full Size

( Table 1 ) Structure of fabric used for Goryeo Buddhist paintings

III IMPLICATIONS OF THE WIDTH OF THE SILK OF GORYEO BUDDHIST PAINTINGS

Of the 160 some extant Goryeo Buddhist paintings, most comprise one single piece of silk rather than a number of pieces joined together. Of course, there are several cases where the painting is made of several pieces such as the Amitabha Triad (1330) at Hōon-ji; Fifteen Thousand Buddhas at Fudō-in; and Amitabha Triad (14th century) at Ōkura Shūkokan, but this is very rare. Generally the silks used for the paintings vary greatly in width, from around 40cm wide, for small works up to 250cm for very large ones.

The silk width distribution map (Table 3) for Goryeo Buddhist paintings reveals some interesting points.

• Image Download
• Full Size

( Table 3 ) Silk width size distribution map

First, the paintings can be divided into five groups according to the width of the silk. Group A consists of 30 some small works of around 40cm in width. This group notably includes the Five Hundred Arhats, a collection of 500 works produced between 1235 and 1236) and paintings of Kshitigarbha (Figures 1, 2).

( Figure 1 ) Five Hundred Arhats, dated 1236. Hanging scroll; color on silk, 53.9x37.7 cm, National Museum of Korea

( Figure 2 ) Kshitigarbha, 14th century. Hanging scroll; color on silk, 107.6 x 45.3 cm, Nezu Museum, Tokyo

Group B consists of 60 some medium-size paintings ranging in width from 50-60cm, accounting for one third of all the extant paintings. This group includes many paintings of Amitabha Buddha or Amitabha Triad (Figure 3) and Kshitigarbha with the Ten Kings of Hell, and a notable proportion of Water-Moon-Avalokiteshvara paintings (Figure 4), about half of the 50 known examples.

( Figure 3 ) Amitabha Triad, 14th century. Hanging scroll; color on silk , 123.0 x 55.8 cm, Tokyo National Museum

( Figure 4 ) Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara, 14th century. Hanging scroll; color on silk, 109.5 x 57.8 cm, Tanzan Jinja, Nara

Group C consists of more than 40 medium-large paintings 80-100cm wide. Most of them depict Amitabha either descending to the mundane world or preaching, as in the Amitabha with Eight Great Bodhisattvas (Figure 5). This group also includes some Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara paintings which show the Bodhisattva sitting in lotus position. Also included are some works carrying a definite date such as Amitabha Buddha (1286) (Figure 6) in the former Shimazu Collection; and the Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (1323) at Sen-oku Haku Kokan in Kyoto.

( Figure 5 ) Amitabha with Eight Great Bodhisattvas, 14th century. Hanging scroll; color on silk, 143.0 x 87.0 cm, Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya

( Figure 6 ) Amitabha Buddha, dated 1286. Hanging scroll; color on silk, 203.5 x 105.1 cm, Former Shimazu Collection

Group D consists of some 15 works 120-200cm wide. Masterpieces of various iconographies such as Amitabha with Eight Great Bodhisattvas, Illustration of the Visualization Sutra (Figure 7), Illustration of the Sutra on the Descent of Maitreya, and the Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara belong to this category.

( Figure 7 ) Illustration of the Visualization Sutra, dated 1323. Hanging scroll; color on silk, 224.2 x 139.1 cm, Chion-in, Kyoto

The last group consists of extra large paintings around 250cm wide. The major example is Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (1310) at Kagami Jinja, which was commissioned by royalty, the actual name of the patron being Sukchangwonbi Lady Kim, a concubine of King Chungseon of the Goryeo dynasty.10 This is a special category that actually only includes one painting.11

Several facts can be deduced from the above comparison of silk widths. The silk widths were related to the unit of measure for clothing and textiles, pobaek-cheok. Many studies have been carried out on changes in the actual size of this unit over time.12 According to records, the measurement system was revised in the 13th year of the reign of King Sejong, and the pobaek-cheok was equivalent to 44.75cm in 1430 (Oryeui, Five Rites), 46.73cm in 1431 (Jeonjesangjeongso, a study of the national land and taxation system of Joseon), and 46.80cm in 1485 (Gyeongguk daejeon, Grand Code for State Administration).13 This unit of measure was an important means of taxation, hence the need for standardization. There are few records, however, mentioning standardization or strict application of a different measure called pobaek-pok compared to pobaek-cheok. It is understood that the pok measure was applied to the looms that wove the cloth collected from all over the country for taxation purposes. Of course, while the width may have varied according to region, the differences were negligible.14

Succeeding the tradition of Unified Silla, Goryeo introduced new weaving techniques through exchange with foreign countries and produced a great quantity of high-quality textiles, which were used to make clothing for the nobility and as a trade item with other countries.15 Various types of fabrics have been identified through having been enshrined with Buddhist relics, namely various types of silk,16 which give an idea of Goryeo’s excellent weaving technology at the time.

In the Goryeo dynasty textiles were produced at government workshops, private workshops and at temples. In the case of government workshops, specialist weaving organizations were established in the capital and in the provinces with specialist craftsmen producing the fabric under a factory-type system. The craftsmen were divided into those affiliated with the central government workshop in the capital, Gaegyeong, and those who worked for provincial workshops.17

As far as the central government organization in charge of textiles is concerned there were many changes in the name and the titles of officials attached to it.18 But in most cases a high-level official with high pay was appointed to be in charge at Sanguiguk, the office in charge of the king’s clothing, and Aekjeongguk, which was in charge of making special textiles such as brocade, gauze, and damask. During the reign of King Munjong, the craftsmen affiliated with Sanguiguk included those in charge of embroidery, hat makers, shoemakers, sash makers, and belt makers, who manufactured clothing and textiles for the royal court. Craftsmen at Aekjeongguk included makers of brocade, gauze and damask, all special textiles of high quality. In addition, there was a separate office in charge of carpets and embroidery called Japjikseo, and another for dyeing called Yeomjikseo.19 There were also craftsmen affiliated to provincial offices such as Geumgibang, Japjikbang, and Gapbang, which made silk and twill, embroidered silk, and armor respectively. As such, many craftsmen worked in the field of textiles at the time.20

In addition to government craftsmen, nuns and slaves who produced textiles at Buddhist temples played an important role in the history of textile manufacture in the Goryeo dynasty.21

In varied ways, the government offices produced all sorts of high-quality textiles to send overseas as gifts and for the use of the royal court and nobility. Temples too had the capacity to produce high-quality goods, and in addition to monks' robes they also made goods to be presented to the court or took part in production of tribute goods, thus boosting the temple economy.22

Considering the data on the widths of Goryeo Buddhist painting canvases above, the following can be deduced from the standard unit for measuring fabrics, the system of textile production, and the variety of textile widths.23

First, The 30-40cm width of small paintings belonging to Group A is seen to be equivalent to the average width of silk fabric on the market at the time. Almost the same width is found in the clothing and fabric samples from enshrined votive offerings. If the Joseon artist Kim Hong-do’s Album of Genre Paintings is taken into account, it is highly likely that the average width of a bolt of silk was determined by the width of the shoulders of the women who worked the weaving looms. Fabric of this size was easily produced in private workshops or the home and easily distributed on the market.

Second, The 50-60cm width of small- to mid-sized paintings belonging to Group B is equivalent to the width of silk fabric that may have been distributed in the capital and provinces under the government workshop system. Therefore, the widths in Group A and Group B indicate fabric that was commonly sold on the market.

Third, Group C includes paintings with a width of 80-100cm, about twice the width of the silks used in Groups A and B, and covers the medium and large Goryeo Buddhist paintings. Although it is possible fabric of this size was made specifically for paintings this has not yet been ascertained. Of course, another possibility is that silk for paintings was imported from China. Through the painting Shakyamuni Entering Nirvana (157.1 x 82.9cm) by Lu Xinzhong, a professional artist working in the Ningbo area during the Southern Song and Yuan period, the size of silk for medium to large paintings that was on the market at the time can be guessed. But it is known that looms for fabric of Group C size existed because of the silk used to make ceremonial robes for the royal court. Therefore, it is possible that Aekjeongguk, the office in charge and paper and ink and high-quality silk and textiles for the court, was involved in its production.24 This is evidenced by the fact that Seo Gu-bang, an artist and official at Aekjeongguk, was in charge of producing the Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (1323, 165.5 x 101.5cm) that is preserved at Sen-oku Haku Kokan, Kyoto. In fact, it is recorded that during the reign of King Chunghye (r. 1330-32) there was a silk storehouse at the palace and female craftsmen to weave silken fabric, which indicates that the court played a large role in the production of Buddhist paintings on canvases in the Group C bracket. As seen in the painting Amitabha Buddha (1306, 162.5 x 91.7cm), commissioned by a man named Gwon Bok-su and now in the collection of Nezu Museum, the Group C size was favored in commissions by powerful aristocratic families and civil and military officials. In the same line, many paintings of the Joseon dynasty were produced on a single large width of silk around 90cm wide, including the Birth of Shakyamuni (145.0 x 109.5cm) at Honkaku-ji in Kyoto, which was painted in the court style in the 15th century (early Joseon), and Shakyamuni Leaving Home (148.0 x 105.0cm) at the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne, Germany, and the late Joseon Portrait of a Meritorious Official.25

Fourth, Group D refers to large paintings on silk 120-180cm wide, about the size of B and C together. Here too it is possible that Aekjeongguk was involved in production. As with Group C, Group D includes some exquisite paintings including two specifically dated works: Illustration of the Visualization Sutra (1323, 224.2 x 139.1cm) at Chion-in in Kyoto, and Illustration of the Sutra of Maitreya’s Attainment of Buddhahood (1294, 230.0 x 130.0cm) at Dōjō-ji in Wakayama. In particular, the Chion-in painting was commissioned by nine people including six high-ranking monks and three government officials. It is possible that high-ranking monks with greater power than civil and military officials at the time were the main force behind the production of the bigger Buddhist paintings.

Fifth, For the last group of very large paintings of around 250cm wide, it is not known whether the fabric was a product of Goryeo or China.26 For the production of Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara at Kagami Jinja, it is possible that Aekjeongguk established a special department to weave the silk for the painting, similar to the department established to produce sutra boxes and another named Sagyeongwon to promote the hand-copying of sutras.27 With the development of textile production, Goryeo had active trade with China, which accelerated as weaving technology became highly advanced.28 In the 14th century, between 1308 and 1351 in particular, institutional changes were made and official post of naebanjongsa was created inside Aekjeongguk, and the production and supervision of high-quality textile production was reinforced.29 Kim U, who took part in painting the Kagami Jinja Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara,30 had the post of naebanjongsa at Aekjeongguk where he worked as a painter, able to reproduce the court Buddhist painting on a supersized textile made of the finest quality silk. The weaving would have been done on an outsize loom by a number of craftsmen (men or women) working together to produce the fabric. Hence, in regard to this painting which constitutes a special commission, could it be a coincidence that Kim Yang-gam, father of Lady Kim who was the patron of the painting, was a third-grade official in charge of ritual implements?31

The size and trends for the canvases of Goryeo Buddhist paintings was continued in the following Joseon dynasty as seen in the silk canvas Buddhist paintings of the 15th century from early Joseon. While there are no very large canvases, the 40cm, 60cm, and 90cm widths all exist. Going into the 16th century, there is an even distribution of widths of Buddhist paintings on silk from 20cm up to 350cm. There is also a painting on one large piece of silk as wide as 230cm, Illustration of the Sutra of the Great Vows of Kshitigarbha (1575-77, 209.5 x 227.3cm) (Figure 8), which was also commissioned by the royal court. Apart from this painting, however, most of the works were painted on canvases made up of several 40-60cm pieces joined together, which is a major point of difference with Goryeo paintings. As for the paintings on hemp commissioned by ordinary people that began to appear from the mid-16th century, their painted surfaces are usually composed of several pieces of hemp 35-38cm wide joined together. More than 40 examples of such paintings exist, indicating a trend.

( Figure 8 ) Illustration of the Sutra of the Great Vows of Kshitigarbha, dated 1575-7. Hanging scroll; color on silk, 209.5 x 227.3 cm, Chion-in, Kyoto

The last thing to be discussed in this section is how the width of the silk appears to have placed limitations on the iconography and interfered with the composition of Goryeo Buddhist paintings. Rather than arising from the strict social hierarchy of Goryeo society, the strict two-level composition seen in paintings of the Amitabha Triad, Amitabha with Eight Great Bodhisattvas, and Kshitigarbha with the Ten Kings of Hell can be seen as the result of limitations placed by the width of the silk, which was invariably one piece of silk rather than many pieces joined together.32 The two-level structure is avoided in the case of illustrations for the Visualization Sutra or the Lotus Sutra, by placing the main icon in the center surrounded by the crowd. The same thing can be seen in sutra illustrations, which are wider than they are high. Several examples exist such as the Illustration of the Lotus Sutra (I) (1315) at Daijō-ji, Nagasaki; Illustration of the Avatamsaka Sutra (1337) at Horim Museum; Illustration of the Lotus Sutra (1340) at Nabeshima Hōkōkai, Saga (Figure 9); and Illustration of the Lotus Sutra (1377) at Horim Museum (Figure 10). This means the Buddha is surrounded by or flanked by Bodhisattvas. While the canvas may be wide, some works arrange the iconography by dividing the canvas into left and right sections, as seen in Geumgang bomun balwon hapbu byeonsangdo, a gold sutra illustration on white paper commissioned by two nuns, preserved at Seongbo Museum, Jikjisa Temple (1377) (Figure 11), or preserve the two-level structure. Thus, the two-level structure found on paintings on silk was strongly influenced by the width of the fabric. For illustrations of the Visualization, Maitreya and Avatamsaka Sutras this was avoided by placing the principal icon in the center and surrounding it with Bodhisattvas.33

( Figure 9 ) Illustration of the Lotus Sutra (Vol. 3), dated 1340. Folding book; gold on indigo paper, 20.2 x 43.6 cm, Nabeshima Hōkōkai, Saga

( Figure 10 ) Illustration of the Lotus Sutra (Vol. 3), dated 1377. Folding book; gold on paper, 22.7 x 43.1 cm, Horim Museum, Seoul

( Figure 11 ) Geumgang bomun balwon hapbu byeonsangdo, dated 1371. Folding book; gold on paper, 17.4 x 18.1 cm, Seongbo Museum, Jijiksa Temple, Gimcheon

IV ENSHRINING GORYEO BUDDHIST PAINTINGS 1: POSSIBILITY AND METHOD OF MAKING VOTIVE OFFERINGS

The enshrining of votive offerings along with Buddhist sculptures and paintings is easily confirmed in Joseon dynasty works. Many relic deposits were also found with images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from the preceding Goryeo dynasty also, but it is highly unusual to think of Goryeo Buddhist paintings in association with relic deposits, or votive offerings. In addition to most of the 160 extant paintings having been preserved outside of Korea, almost no such votive offerings have been discovered.

But would the paintings really have been enshrined without any votive offerings? If we presume they did indeed exist, how would they have been enshrined?

The definitive case suggesting the existence of votive offerings with Goryeo Buddhist paintings is the painting of Amitabha Buddha at Shōbō-ji in Kyoto (14th century, 184.0 x 86.5cm) (Figure 12). This is one of the bigger paintings, showing a solo image of Amitabha descending to take the soul of the dead to Paradise. According to a report on the restoration of the painting from 1999 when the mounting paper was removed from the back, a small piece of paper was found near the swastika on the left side of the icon’s chest (Figure 13).34 Seen as a votive offering, this piece of paper features a round dharani (a kind of talisman) 10.6cm in diameter, consisting of a Sanskrit character in the center and the Casket Seal dharani written in Sanskrit in a circle around it. This dharani has been found as part of the relic deposits in Goryeo Buddhist statues such as the Gilt-bronze Amitabha (1302) at Onyang Folk Museum; the Gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha (1346) at Munsusa Temple, and the Iron Buddha (late Goryeo) at Illaksa Temple.35 The Munsusa Amitabha Buddha yielded a Sanskrit dharani written in a circle (37.6 x 33.3cm) and the Dharani of the Immaculate Buddha-Corona's Emitted Light (52.4 x 29.8cm), which are considered to be votive offerings. The votive offerings in the Illaksa Iron Buddha include two mandalas, the Diamond Mandala (44 x 32.5cm) and the Garbhadhatu Mandala (30 x 32.5cm), which appear to have been published and enshrined in the late Goryeo dynasty.36 The Casket Seal dharani in the Shōbō-ji painting is similar to the Illaksa Diamond Mandala, and almost identical to the Casket Seal dharani at the top of the Dharani of the Immaculate Buddha-Corona’s Emitted Light at Munsusa Temple (Figure 14).

( Figure 12 ) Amitabha Buddha, 13th -14th century. Hanging scroll; color on silk, 184.0 x 86.5 cm, Shōbō-ji, Kyoto

( Figure 13 ) Back of the Amitabha Buddha at Shōbō-ji and the dharani as votive offering

( Figure 14 ) Left: Votive offering dharani in Sanskrit (1345) from the Gilt-bronze Amitabha statue at Munsusa Temple
Right: Votive offering dharani in Sanskrit almost identical to that at Munsusa Temple

As the dharani found on the Shōbō-ji painting is the only example of a votive offering enshrined at the time the painting was produced, it is undoubtedly a very important item for study. The painting gives us an idea of the way votive offerings were made with Goryeo Buddhist paintings.

Aside from this, the idea that votive offerings were hung from the paintings or embedded in the painting cannot be excluded. The possibility that the votive offerings were hung is be surmised from 16th century Joseon Buddhist paintings. Although no votive offerings from a 16th century painting remain extant, there is a depiction of a pouch for votive offerings hanging on the surface of a Buddhist painting in the Ten Kings of Hell (1586) at Kokubun-ji, and Shakyamuni’s Ascension to Nirvana (1589) (Figure 15) at Yakushi-ji in Nara. In both examples the pouch is in the “three mountain” form, and the Yakushi-ji example has a noticeably stronger craft-like decorative feel.

( Figure 15 ) Left: Nectar Ritual Painting, dated 1589. Hanging scroll; color on hemp, 150.2 x 169.3 cm, Yakusen-ji, Hyōgo
Right: Nectar Ritual Painting (detail)

Moreover, records on Joseon Buddhist paintings of the 16th century such as Shakyamuni’s Ascension to Nirvana (1589) at Senkō-ji, and Kshitigarbha with the Ten Kings of Hell (1582) at Tanjō-ji in Chiba specifically mention a mirror and silk pouch as votive offerings,37 supporting the idea that a pouch may have been hung on the paintings.

A pouch motif is depicted on these two paintings and relics very similar in appearance to the motif have been found: a bronze pouch at Jijangsa Temple in Uiseong, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province dating to 1722 (late Joseon),38 and a pouch and mirror at Namjangsa Temple in Sangju (Figure 16).39 From these relics it is evident that the basic appearance of the pouch had not changed greatly in the 200-year period from the 16th century to the 18th century. In reverse, it can be argued that the votive pouch would not have suddenly appeared in the 16th century, but was depicted in 16th century Buddhist paintings because real examples of such had existed in the preceding period.40 This leaves room for the idea that votive offering pouches were hung with paintings in the Goryeo dynasty.

( Figure 16 ) Votive offering pouch, dated 1788. 80.5 x 63.2 cm, Namjangsa Temple, Sangju

Lending even greater weight to this idea are the Goryeo dynasty mirrors, round and square. More than 40 relics have been excavated from various places including tombs, pagodas, mountain fortresses, and among the buried deposits off the coast of Sinan.41 Of the mirrors whose place of discovery is not known, some have a knob and some do not (Figure 17). Of those that do, the knob has a hole in it either at the top or in the middle. It is possible that the mirrors measuring 10-20cm in diameter with knobs and a hole were hung with a string on Buddhist paintings as a votive offering. Notably, the votive offering pouch at Namsangsa Temple dating to 1788 was found with a round mirror tied to it with a string of beads. Another item to be noted is the mirror without a knob featuring a design of the Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (diameter 11.4cm) (Figure 18), which was enshrined in the statue of Shakyamuni at Cheongnyangsa Temple (985, Song dynasty). This suggests that mirrors enshrined with Buddhist images had no knob, unlike those that were hung with paintings.

( Figure 17 ) Goryeo bronze mirrors, H: 9.7 - 12.2cm, National Museum of Korea, et al.

( Figure 18 ) Votive offering mirror enshrined in the statue of Shakyamuni at Seiryō-ji (Northern Song, dated 985), D: 11.4 cm

Further investigation should be carried out to ascertain whether the bronze mirrors featuring Buddhist designs, both round and square, were really intended for ritual purposes, as is generally believed.42 The possibility that they were hung on paintings as votive offerings should at least be considered.

Another way the votive offerings might have been enshrined with paintings is to be embedded inside the roller at the bottom of the mount. While the likelihood is actually very low, special cases should be taken into account. The Lord of Hell (98.0 x 85.0cm) from 1798 in the collection of the National Museum of Korea has four square notches in the roller (sangchuk), which yielded votive offerings such as a dharani, colored thread and colored paper, grains and metal.43 While this method of enshrining offerings is very rare, it is also gaining credence as a newly discovered method.44 Confirmation is difficult, however, since the Lord of Hell is a painting from late Joseon, and there are no extant Goryeo paintings with their (original) roller, let alone votive offerings enshrined in the roller.

V ENSHRINING BUDDHIST PAINTINGS 2: ORIGINAL PLACE OF ENSHRINEMENT

Thirty Goryeo Buddhist paintings come intact with a record of their production. These records indicate that the patrons of Buddhist painting can be divided into royalty, aristocracy and officials, monks, and communities of Buddhist believers called hyangdo, which existed in the late Goryeo dynasty. If we consider that the final category consists of commoners, then it is possible that a wider range of people commissioned those paintings which carry no records.

Among these Goryeo Buddhist paintings produced with the involvement of all classes, some mention places of enshrinement like the Kagami Jinja painting which names a specific temple,45 while some papers mention temples in Gaegyeong as places of enshrinement for paintings and wall paintings based on historical records.46 Moreover, it is surmised that the paintings would have been hung in the personal shrines or temples of the aristocratic officials.47

The following is a closer examination of the places of enshrinement of Goryeo Buddhist paintings based on records from the 13th and 14th centuries.

a) Buddhist paintings were enshrined in the Buddha hall and shrines within the royal palace to pray for the prosperity of the nation and the happiness of the people, as well as the longevity of the royal family and their peaceful repose after death. During Yuan control over Goryeo, in the reigns of King Chungnyeol (r. 1275-1308) and King Chungseon (r.1298, 1308-1313), Goryeo temples in and around the capital, Gaegyeong, became prayer shrines for the Mongol Yuan dynasty and Buddhist activities were frequent.48 High-class Buddhist paintings of the Groups C and D would have been produced and enshrined on those occasions.

b) Powerful families including the families of military and civil officials built temples big and small near the graves of their ancestors to pray for the repose of their souls or to pray for the nation and the royal court. It is likely that paintings of the Groups A, B, and C were enshrined at these temples, featuring iconography related to Pure Land Buddhism, (rebirth in the Pure Land) or paintings praying for good fortune in this world. The construction of private shrines was limited by law but in the late Goryeo period the king, officials and monks continued to build private shrines, so King Chungseon, upon his coronation vowed to put a stop to evil practices in this field.54

c) Buddhist paintings were enshrined in temple halls. In Goryeo temples, the halls mainly featured murals, but paintings of the Groups B, C, and D would have been hung in the smaller temple halls and hermitages.58 A painting of Amitabha with Eight Great Bodhisattvas was enshrined at Sujeongam, a painting of the White-Robed Avalokiteshvara was enshrined at Gukcheongsa Temple, and it is likely that a painting of Amitabha Buddha would have been hung at Boamsa Temple.

d) Government officials enshrined Buddhist paintings in home shrines, which served as a private place to worship and hold rites. Influential people in the provinces also hung up paintings of Amitabha Buddha in the Pure Land in their homes and prayed before them.63 The paintings would have belonged to the Groups A and B, depicting Amitabha or some other Buddhist deity.

e) Finally, there were individual cases where the paintings were enshrined in special places. The first case is the Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara painting commissioned by the royalty of Goryeo and now preserved at Kagami Jinja in Japan. The painting today measures 419.5 x 254.2cm, smaller than was to being with, but it is still the largest of all extant Goryeo Buddhist paintings.66 Considering the size of Joseon Buddhist paintings hung behind the principal icon in the main temple hall, however, it can be said that the Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara at Kagami Jinja is the only known Goryeo Buddhist painting that would have been big enough to be enshrined in the main hall of a large temple.67 In regard to where the painting would have been originally enshrined, Mincheonsa Temple and Heungcheonsa Temple in the capital area, Gaeseong, have been mentioned.68

Another special case refers to the Group C painting that may have been enshrined at Mangwondang, the house built by King Chungseon in the winter capital of Yuan at Dadu (present-day Beijing). Built in 1314 during the first year of the reign of King Chungsuk, this house was where the future king Chungseon studied and spent time with the Chinese scholars.69 The house had been well known as a gathering place of Confucian scholars, but it has been revealed that the house was more of a Buddhist gathering place. Regarding the name, researchers such as Kim Gwang-cheol and Kim Sang-gi have suggested that Mangwondang is an alternative name for Jemigideok, the formal name of the house.70 The posthumous poetry anthology of Yi Je-hyeon titled Ikje nango, famous for its mention of several place names, does not mention Mangwondang but does mention a place called Jemigideoktongsogae (濟美基德痛掃漑).71 Moreover, the scholar Lee Gae-seok sees "Jemigideok" as the Chinese-character version of the original Mongol name, which in Romanized modern Mongolian would be jimyi-g-tei (濟美基德: : silence), tun (痛: : to meditate), and suu-gai (掃漑: : to be seated). Therefore, Mangwondang means “to sit meditating in silence.” In addition, he has pointed out that the Jemigideoktongsogae mentioned in Yi Jae-hyeon’s Ikjenango can be understood in the same context such as "Pyehobunhyang Gyeongilhweja (閉戶焚香 竟日跪坐)," the names of which suggest the burning of incense and Buddhist meditation respectively. Therefore, he argues, the name Mangwondang means “a room to keep silent and practice Seon meditation” but has been wrongly understood. According to a letter written by Jeong Mun-hae (1249-1318), who was invited to the Yuan capital, even by 1312 the garden of Mangwondang was already filled with the sound of Buddhist music.72

While it is not certain whether Mangwondang was the same place as Jemigideoktongsogae or was a large place that encompassed the latter, it is highly possible that it was a place for Buddhist sermons and Seon meditation complete with a Buddhist painting and all the necessary implements, and was hence also a place where the Goryeo attendants to the king could go to find solace. As is well known through various records, King Chungseon was a devout Buddhist who was especially fond of reading the sutras and carried out various acts showing his faith such as turning a palace into Mincheonsa Temple to pray for the soul of his mother and making offerings to 3,000 priests.73 Therefore it is considered very natural that Mangwondang was a very Buddhist place in nature.

VI CONCLUSION

In this paper, 160 extant Goryeo Buddhist paintings have been studied from three aspects: the weave of the silk used for painting, the width of the silk, and the place of enshrinement.

First, most of the paintings are on silk woven with a space after every two warp threads. This rib weave allows for greater expression of depth and texture than ordinary plain weave.

Second, in terms of width, Goryeo Buddhist paintings range from small works about 40cm wide to very large works as much as 250cm wide. The paintings were studied by dividing them into five groups according to width: A, B, C, and D, and E for special cases. Analysis showed that the width of the silk influenced the iconography and composition of paintings, and it is thought likely that the larger works (Groups C, D, E) were managed by the court office called Aekjeongguk.

Lastly, in terms of enshrinement, the votive offerings that might have been enshrined with the paintings were studied along with the places where the paintings would have been hung originally. Taking the example of the Amitabha preserved at Shōbō-ji in Kyoto, which first suggested the idea that votive offerings were made with paintings, the issue of the enshrining of votive offerings and the way they would have been enshrined was examined. In addition, examination of documents from the 13th and 14th centuries revealed that Goryeo Buddhist paintings were enshrined in various places such as Buddhist halls on palace grounds, royal shrines, shrines big and small near the homes or ancestral graveyards of powerful families and officials of the ruling class, built to pray for the repose of the dead or pray for blessings, temple halls, and private shrines in the homes of officials. Special cases include Mangwondang, a Goryeo royal residence in Yuan. The places of enshrinement were studied in connection with the size of paintings.

This paper hence represents a departure from the usual subjects of iconography and style of Goryeo Buddhist paintings to take a preliminary approach to peripheral issues, which will be supplemented through further research.