However, at Sokkuram, near the summit of Mount Toham,
northeast of the city, a splendid granite Buddhist monument is pre-
served. Scant surviving records suggest that Kim Tae-song, a mem-
ber of the royal family who served as prime minister, supervised its
construction. He initiated the project in 742 to honor his parents in
his previous life. Certainly the intimate scale of Sokkuram and the
quality of its reliefs and freestanding figures support the idea that
the monument was a private chapel for royalty.
The main rotunda (circular area under a dome;FIG. 7-28)
measures about 21 feet in diameter. Despite its modest size, the
Sokkuram project required substantial resources. Unlike the Chi-
nese Buddhist caves at Longmen (FIG. 7-14), the interior wall sur-
faces and sculpture were not cut from the rock in the process of ex-
cavation. Instead, workers assembled hundreds of granite pieces of
various shapes and sizes, attaching them with stone rivets instead of
mortar.
Sculpted images of bodhisattvas, lohans, and guardians line the
lower zone of the wall. Above, 10 niches contain miniature statues of
seated bodhisattvas and believers. All these figures face inward to-
ward the 11-foot-tall statue of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha,
which dominates the chamber and faces the entrance. Carved from a
single block of granite, the image represents the Buddha as he touched
the earth to call it to witness the realization of his enlightenment at
Bodh Gaya (FIG. 6-11b). Although remote in time and place from
the Sarnath Buddha (FIG. 6-13) in India, this majestic image remains
faithful to its iconographic prototype. More immediately, the Korean
statue draws on the robust, round-faced figures (FIG. 7-14) of Tang
China, and its drapery is a more schematic version of the fluid type
found in Tang sculpture. However, the figure has a distinctly broad-
shouldered dignity combined with harmonious proportions that are
without close precedents. Art historians consider it one of the finest
images of the Buddha in East Asia.7-27Crown, from north mound of tomb 98,
Hwangnamdong, near Kyongju, Korea, Three Kingdoms
period, fifth to sixth century. Gold and jade, 10^3 – 4 high.
Kyongju National Museum, Kyongju.
This gold-and-jade crown from a Silla tomb attests to
the wealth of that kingdom and the skill of its artists.
The uprights may be stylized tree and antler forms
symbolizing life and supernatural power.Korea 2031 in.