Buddha Seokgamoni (Shakyamuni) Preaching to the Assembly on Vulture Peak

This important large-scale ritual painting displays many characteristics of mid-eighteenth-century Buddhist art, including the complex composition and the strongly formulated patterns in the floral motifs and clouds. A recent conservation project for this painting took over a year to complete. (Watch the video.) LACMA is deeply grateful to Professor Park Chisun and her talented team from Korea for conserving this work. The painting depicts Seokgamoni (Shakyamuni), the historical Buddha, seated on a lotus pedestal in the center, preaching to a large assembly, as described in the Lotus Sutra. The painting’s long inscription at the bottom states that the scroll was created for the Shinheung Temple in Yangyang, Gangwon Province. It also identifies ten monks who participated in its production. According to the inscription, the painting was completed in the sixth month of the twentieth year of the (Manchu) Qing dynasty Qianlong Emperor’s reign (the thirty-first year of the Joseon dynasty King Yeongjo’s reign), which corresponds to 1755.