조선 전반기 불화의 도상해석학적 연구

Abstract

The early period of the Chosun Dynasty (1392‐1608) promoted the Confucianism based on Neo Confucian Philosophy as the highest governing ideology while suppressing Buddhism. Despite such a governmental policy, however, Buddhism had a chance of revival thanks to the protection and advocacy of Buddhism by individual believers, in particular, those from the royal family. In that situation, the Buddhist art circle in the 16th century also rode a new wave of prosperity as many Buddhist paintings were created under the sponsorship of the royal family. As a large number of Buddhist paintings were drawn under the sponsorship of ordinary people and the royal family during the 15th and 16th centuries in the Chosun Dynasty, the themes of paintings were also diversified from iconic paintings to Avalokitesvara paintings, Ksitigarbha paintings, guardian paintings, illustration paintings, Amita‐raja paintings, Big Dipper paintings, Three Bodhisattvas paintings, and Arahat paintings. Among such a variety of themes, iconic paintings with the date of creation known were selected for this study, and we examined the background, form, icons and style characteristics of such Buddhist paintings. According to the results, Buddhist iconic paintings in the early Chosun Dynasty were created mainly as objects of worshipping, and their characteristics were as follows. First, the creation of Buddhist iconic paintings was promoted by policies for reviving Buddhism, prayers for the peace of the royal family by court women including queens and concubines, royal kin’s personal faith, and belief in Buddhist scriptures. Second, the forms of screen composition were diverse from Triad paintings to mass paintings. Third, included figures and iconographic characteristics were different according to the form of iconic painting. Fourth, each Buddhist iconic painting showed characteristic screen composition, the shape of figures, stroke and color. Summing up, this study is considered meaningful in that it found that many of Buddhist paintings in the early period of the Chosun Dynasty were created under the sponsorship of the royal family, and as a result, they inherited the characteristics of Buddhist paintings in the Koryo Dynasty such as well‐organized composition concentrating the viewer’s attention, comfortable and harmonious form, elegant and vigorous strokes, and subtle colors.