화본(畵本)으로 본 석굴암 창건시기

Abstract

Seokgulam is one of the monumental relics of ancient Buddhist art in Korea, and the time of its foundation is generally seen as the mid-8th century. One of the biggest reasons why the time of building Seokgulam has been settled as the mid-8th century is the influence of records about Bulguksa’s creation contained in 『Samgukyusa』. According to the results of examining the story of Seokgulam’s foundation in 『Samgukyusa』 critically, however, it is thought to be a tale implying the changes of Bulguksa sects in Goryeo rather than a record reflecting the situation of the time when Seokgulam was created. Besides, it is reasonable to analyze some parts of the tale in association with Seokgulam’s restoration, not foundation; therefore, the time of building Seokgulam may have to be reexamined by distinguishing the literatures from the works. Here, this author pays attention to the phenomenon of the late 7th up to the early 8th century that East Asian Buddhist art tended to be similar globally and also model paintings(畵本) distributed then. Model painting was adopted as the most useful means to spread the icons and styles newly established then and influenced the sculptures of Seokgulam, too, directly. Therefore, it can be an alternative to approach the time of building Seokgulam being freed from the literatures to excavate the examples of works produced with model painting falling in the same category of Seokgulam statues and compare the time of building. According to the investigation, the works made with the same model painting of Seokgulam statues were mainly the late 7th-century statues of Sinjang from Longmen Cave in China and also Buddhist arts transmitted from Hōryū-ji(法隆寺) in Japan chronologically recorded as the late 7th till the early 8th century. In particular, it is hard to find any difference between the painting of the Ten Principle Disciples(十大第子圖) and the painting of Bodhisattva(菩薩圖) on Hōryū-ji Geumdang Mural presented in the body and Seokgulam statues except the fact that the former is a painting and the latter is a sculpture. In addition, compared to Hōryū-ji Geumdang Mural, Seokgulam statues are considered to reflect the model more faithfully. As written above, the results of analyzing the time of distributing the same category model painting and the works indicate that it is valid to record the time of building Seokgulam not as the reign of King Gyeongdeok but as that of King Seongdeok around 710.