| Some
of the finest and most technically accomplished Buddhist sculpture in East Asia
was produced in Korea. Buddhism, first introduced into the peninsula from China
late in the fourth century, during the Three Kingdoms period (57 BC–AD 668),
flourished in Korea through the Unified Silla (668–935) and Koryo (918–1392)
periods. Practiced and supported at first by the royal courts and the aristocracy
as part of a larger program to consolidate the power of the state, the foreign
religion gradually gained adherents among all levels of society. A number of Korean
monks are known to have traveled to China and even to India, where Buddhism originated,
to receive religious training as early as the late sixth and early seventh centuries.
Many of them returned to Korea, often bearing sacred texts and images, to disseminate
the teachings acquired abroad. It was through Korea that Buddhism was formally
introduced to Japan, in 538, where it likewise played a decisive role in the formation
of early Japanese art and culture. Although the number of large-scale Buddhist
works declined during the Choson dynasty (1392–1910) when Neo-Confucianism
replaced Buddhism as the state ideology, private devotional images continued to
be made. The predominance of Buddhism as a spiritual force in Korean society is
attested by the broad range and high quality of sculpture, paintings, and other
Buddhist works of art produced for personal worship and for use in monasteries
and state temples. An understanding of Korean Buddhist sculpture involves comparisons
with Chinese prototypes, and in some cases with models that can be traced back
to Central Asia and to India. While Korean Buddhist sculpture is stylistically
indebted to these foreign traditions, Korean artists were often selective, adopting
certain models that they in turn developed into images with a distinctive Korean
appearance, particularly in facial expression, or varied through different carving
or casting techniques. |
