백제금동대향로 인물 도상의 성격－인물상의 특수성을 통한 백제대향로의동아시아미술사적 의의 탐색

Abstract

In December 1993, Baekje Great Incense Burner was excavated from Neungsan-ri Temple Site in Buyeo. A number of related research results have been published over the past 30 years, enabling the rich restoration of Baekje history through the Baekje Great Incense Burner. This study attempted to find the status of Baekje Great Incense Burner in East Asian art history by analyzing the shapes of the characters expressed in Baekje Great Incense Burner. This paper first categorized the various characters appearing on the lid and body of the Baekje Great Incense Burner as male and female immortals and a monk, and analyzed their characteristics. In addition, a comparative analysis was conducted between the characters of Baekje Great Incense Burner and the characters in Boshan incense burner expressed in the writings of the Northern and Southern dynasties of China. In the writings of Chinese aristocrats and bureaucrats in the 5th and 6th centuries, paired male and female immortals were expressed. They have fun together or float in the air holding hands, which is deeply related to the fact that the Boshan incense burner was an object appreciated by aristocrats and bureaucrats. On the other hand, male and female immortals expressed in Baekje Great Incense Burner appear as independent beings. In other words, women were described as musicians who played musical instruments on the top of the mountain, and men were described as immortals who trained in the deep mountains. Most of the male immortals of Baekje Great Incense Burner appear intensively in the south and southwest of the incense burner. This place is presumed to be related to the Taoist Lingbao sect, where the soul of the dead goes up from the basement to the southern palace and becomes an immortal. If so, the mountain of Baekje Great Incense Burner, where many immortals are depicted, becomes the heavenly world, and the men practicing Taoism in the mountains are likely ancestors of the Baekje royal family who went to heaven after their death. The Baekje Great Incense Burner depicts a Buddhist monk doing Zen meditation. The appearance of this monk may be related to the use of Baekje Great Incense Burner in the temple. Since there were no Taoists in Baekje, monks would have been in charge of rituals to pray for the souls of their ancestors in front of the Baekje Great Incense Burner. The Baekje Great Incense Burner was made by the Baekje royal family to pray for the souls of their ancestors, so it had a completely different character composition from the Boshan incense Burner made for appreciation by the aristocrats of the Southern Dynasty in China. In other words, the Baekje people created a completely new Baekje-specific Boshan incense burner unprecedented in China by inserting characters suitable for the purpose of production.