Yangyang Seonlim Park, Unified Shilla’Geumdong Bodhisattva Figurine’ Reveals Gold in 5 Years

In October 2015, a statue of a Geumdong Bodhisattva and a pedestal to support a Buddha statue were unearthed at Seonrimwon, Seomyeon, Yangyang-gun, Gangwon-do.

This bodhisattva statue is the largest in history as a bodhisattva statue with a clear place of excavation, as well as a pedestal and a light beam (decoration in the form of light), which attracted great attention from the time of excavation. The granule is 38.7cm in height and about 4.0kg in weight, and the base is 14.0cm in height and 3.7kg in weight.

At the time of excavation, soil and green rust were thickly entangled on the surface, and the right ankle was broken and separated from the pedestal. In addition, the Gwangbae was damaged in several pieces, and it was urgently needed for preservation.

The Cultural Heritage Administration’s National Center for Cultural Heritage Conservation Science announced on the 3rd that it had preserved the statue of the Geumdong Bodhisattva in Seonlim Park from January 2016 to December last year to restore its original appearance and gold color, and to investigate the production technique and solidarity.

According to the Center for Conservation of Cultural Properties, it took four years to remove rust, the most important process of saving the original shape and value of the Geumdong Bodhisattva.

Conservation Science Center explained, “In order to reveal the original color of the plating layer, the bronze rust must be removed, but it was firmly attached to the plating layer and observed under a microscope, and it was a very difficult and difficult process to peel off the rust layer by layer.”

Eventually, the plated layer was clearly revealed, and the ink lines delicately drawn on the plated layer also appeared. The ink-drawn parts were found in four places, including the eyebrows, eyes and pupils, beard, and the hollow of the pedestal (a method of making a pattern by cutting out or shaving the material).

During the preservation process, pieces of paper and pieces of gold leaf paper collected from the inside and the surface of the statue were also identified.

Conservation Science Center said, “These sculptures have no name and only part of them, so it was difficult to determine their use, but fiber analysis showed that all of these papers were Dak paper, and as a result of measuring the absolute age by the radiocarbon dating method, in the 7th to 9th centuries, It was confirmed that it was produced.”

The bronze statue of the Bodhisattva was cast from a copper alloy, and it was revealed that it was produced as a single entity when transmitted through X-rays, and traces of casting holes were found behind both arms. The bodhisattva statue appears to have been plated with metal plates after the casting was completed, the Conservation Science Center explained.

In addition, as a result of the surface analysis, a high content of mercury and granular gold were found in the plating layer, and it was revealed that it was produced by amalgam plating method.

The red pigment observed on the back of the bodhisattva statue decoration and the back of the pedestal ear flower is lead carbonate artificially produced by corroding cinnabar (red pigment made from red mercury sulfide minerals) and lead Red pigment made by heating) and cinnabar were identified as a mixed red pigment, and red pigment remained fine on the lips.

Most of the indigo pigment painted on the hair fell off due to surface corrosion, but the dark indigo pigment remaining in some was identified as a copper-based stone blue. Seokcheong is a natural mineral pigment that gives off a deep, deep blue color.

The Conservation Science Center confirmed the original appearance of the Bodhisattva statue through three-dimensional (3D) scanning and image restoration with the Hanbit Institute for Cultural Heritage. The bodhisattva statue was made separately and then combined with a bodhisattva statue, a light boat, and a pedestal with the head of the Buddha adorned with a storage (寶冠), ornaments made of beads, such as Yeongrak (瓔珞), and Jeongbyung (a water bottle with a long neck) I figured it out.

Conservation Science Center said, “Unfortunately, the broken right ankle of the bodhisattva statue is in a difficult state to be joined to the pedestal.” Revealed.

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