19~20세기 감로도의 특징과 의미 -양주 청련사 <감로도>(1880년)를 중심으로-

Abstract

This article aims to examine the significance and characteristics of gamrodo (nectar ritual painting) from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. About seventy of nectar rituals paintings produced from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century during the Joseon Dynasty are extant today. While these paintings continued to achieve conventional compositions, their iconographies changed over time. Such iconographical changes seem to have resulted from ritual manuals, patrons, and regional characteristics. This article analyzes distinct features of nectar ritual paintings from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by focusing on the Gamrodo produced in 1880 at Cheongnyeonsa Temple. The nineteenth-century nectar ritual paintings created after the production of gamrodo in 1868 at Heungguksa Temple in the Suraksan Mountain are considerably different from earlier examples. The upper section of the Heungguksa gamrodo depicts the seven Buddhas looking straight ahead as if they have just descended to attend a ritual. The middle section illustrates more detailed scenes of the ritual, including Buddhist ritual dancers and musicians performing in front of the food-bestowal altar. It also includes monks preparing for the ritual held during the daytime, large-scale ritual objects, and spectators. The lower sections illustrate genre paintings. This Heungguksa gamrodo served as a standardized model for other nineteenth-century gamrodo and iconographically exerted a substantial influence on them. Among the nineteenth-century nectar ritual paintings, the gamrodo (1880) at Cheongnyeonsa presents distinctive iconographical elements in its middle section. Compared to the middle sections of other nectar ritual paintings, the mid part of the Cheongnyeonsa gamrodo emphasizes the scenes of performing Buddhist ritual dance and music. The figures are also wearing rather distinct garments. Moreover, the Cheongnyeonsa gamrodo employs decorative techniques, as shown in the use of gold leaves in mandorlas of the Buddhas, Buddhist memorial tablets on the food-bestowal altar, and auspicious patterns. These characteristics of the Cheongnyeonsa gamrodo were formed by the dominant painting style of Hyegwa Bonggan and Gosan Chukyeon, the prominent monk-painters who worked near Seoul, and by the sponsorship of commissioners led by court ladies. The nectar ritual paintings, including the Cheongnyeonsa gamrodo, produced at temples related to Joseon royal court around this time, embrace the motifs of decorative paintings of the Joseon royal court. In these paintings, Buddhist memorial tablets of Joseon court-related figures are placed on top of the food-bestowal altar. The banners of the Vairocana Buddha Triad are hanging over the altar as the symbol of Buddhist s and rituals. The gamrodo enshrined at Cheongnyeonsa Temple in Wangsip-ri of Hanseong-bu (present-day Seoul) in 1880 represents the nectar ritual paintings from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, incorporating characteristics of the commissioners, the enshrinement in royal temples, and Buddhist rituals of the nineteenth century.