Banghyeongdaejwa Stone Seated Buddha, Gyeongju

Basic information

Designation

Treasure No.1977

Category

Sculpture

Era

9세기

Designated year

2018

Location

종로구, 서울특별시— 서울특별시 종로구 청와대로 1 (세종로)

Coordinates

No precise coordinates are available, so this item is not shown as a map marker. To be added later.

The Stone Buddha Seated on a Square Pedestal in Gyeongju is a stone statue of the Buddha that dates back to the ninth century, towards the end of the Unified Silla period. It was designated as Tangible Cultural Heritage of Seoul No. 24 on January 15, 1974 and was re-designated as a Treasure in April 2018 following the rediscovery of its value as a part of the heritage of Korean Buddhist art. The Buddha, who is portrayed wearing a robe with the right shoulder exposed and displaying the symbolic hand gesture of repelling evil by touching the ground, is in a comparatively good state of preservation, although the middle and lower tiers of the base stone have been lost. The statue of the Buddha is also characterized by a well-balanced imposing figure and fan-shaped creases in his robe, which make it comparable with the principal Buddha of Seokguram Grotto in Gyeongju. The plump, heavy form and parallel folds in the robe reflect the aesthetic sensibility of Unified Silla in the ninth century. As well as being the only extant stone statue of Buddha hewn from a single block of stone dating back to the period, it is a rare example of a statue with a square pedestal decorated with a lotus design, and is regarded as one of the finest examples of Buddhist sculpture of ninth-century Unified Silla.