The gilt-bronze seated Bhaisajyaguru(Medicine Buddha) Statue enshrined in the Lower Daeung jeon Hall at Janggoksa Temple in Cheongyang-gun County, Chungcheongnam-do Province, was produced in 1346. The discovery of several sacred objects and a dedicatory prayer inside it has made it one of the best-known Buddhist statues dating from late Goryeo period. Despite the disappearance of certain items, the remaining sacred objects from inside of the statue are of high significance and value because they remain in their original state. The textiles from Bhaisajyaguru(Medicine
Buddha) Statue show Korean textile history well in terms of their high quantity and various types.
The textiles discovered from the statue are total of 60 pieces classified into 46 different types. These artifacts include 1 piece of dedicatory prayer, 1 piece of incense pouch, 1 piece of norigae (the first of its kind to be discovered), five color threads and different types of textile fragments.
This presentation will discuss about the constructions, types and patterns of selected textiles from the statue.
First of all, the dedicatory prayer was made out of red tabby silk and was width of 48cm and length of 1,058cm. This is the longest prayer among discovered dedicatory prayers. It has the names of about 1,117 participants and their wish. Among the names of participants, King Gongmin and 29 Gunbuins, who belonged the high level women were found. This leads to the assumption that the dedication of this statue was a major Buddhist event at the time, involving royalty and the highest-ranking members of Goryeo’s Buddhist clergy. There were four high quality silk fabrics which have names wish, they were stitched up the dedicatory prayers.
Other than the dedicatory prayer, several silk relics also have been found. A silver Sarira case has been disappeared but its wrapping fabrics remain. The silver Sarira case was wrapped with six different kinds of silk and it was tightened with five color threads.
The norigae which is a Korean traditional ornament worn by women, which was discovered for the very first time, used different colors of 22 Jikgeum (gold woven silk). They were extremely detailed and colorfully decorated in embroidery and gold foil. In reference to Jikgeum incense pouch and norigae , we could look into the dazzling accessories culture of Goryeo Dynasty's women.
The types of silk fabrics vary into cho (thin tabby silk), gyeon (tabby silk), ju (tabby silk), la (complex gauze), sa (simple gauze), mu-meung-neung (non patterned twill), meung-neung (twill damask), jikgeum (weave with supplementary gold wefts) and janghwa (brocade) and their weaving quality is excellent as well. Especially, many jikgeum (gold woven) textiles have been found and this is recorded as the highest quantified discovery in a single Buddhist statue.
Gold woven silk is classified as twill with supplementary weft and brocade with supplementary weft according to their weave s tructure. Mostly, f lat gold thread was used and it was utilized in various ways. Some of gold woven silk were only made up of gold thread but some of it used gold thread mixed with silver thread. One piece of dan (non patterned satin) was found among the types of textiles. This is the earliest satin among the findings in Korea.
Some of four-end complex gauzes with pattern have been found and clamped resist dying was applied one of them. Various types of two-end gauzes were found from Bhaisajyaguru Buddha Statue due to their highly production in the late Goryeo Dynasty in the 14th Century. At the time, three-end gauzes were also popular but this hasn’t been found from this statue.
For the patterns of textiles from Bhaisajyaguru Buddha statue, they are divided into different patterns. First, a pattern method of Topjamun refers to a regular pattern as towering a building. A record shows a word Geumtopja was used when one use gold thread for the pattern. Especially, Topjamun is very popular in East Asia in the 14th Century. Topjamun from the Yuan Dynasty had larger and more complicated pattern style while Topjamun from the Goryeo D ynasty consists of small simplified patterns. The pattern subjects of Topjamun were antelope, dragon, pomegranate, butterfly, small flower, and lingzhi mushroom. The antelope or djeiran pattern style was seen for the first time in Korea. This djeiran pattern is firstly seen in Sogd craftworks and this pattern can be seen in Song, Yuan, Jin craftworks.
Second, one of the representative characteristics in Goryeo pattern is their geometric configuration. A large quantity of geometric patterns have been found from the statue. In some textiles, geometric patterns with a single item scattered throughout the textile and some of them consist of more than two items. Use of geometrical configuration was popular in Song and Yuan and it seems that this usage is influenced from Islamic culture. Geometric configurations from Bhaisajyaguru Buddha statue were 卍 character, clouds on hexagonal ground and dragon on geometric patterns.
Third, there were complex patterns throughout the textile. Subjects of the patterns were flower and bird, cloud and phoenix, cloud and treasure, hare and scroll, etc. Especially, twill damask attached on dedicatory prayer used ponds pattern. This pattern is beautifully organized with the white heron, lotus flower, mandarin duck, fish in fine and delicate touch.
The textiles from 'A Seated Gilt Bronze Medicine Buddha' in the Janggok Temple were found in various types and favorable condition. Moreover, a great amount of high quality silk fabrics is included which could be very valuable artifacts to understand the Goryeo's outstanding silk weaving culture.