Marginalized yet Devoted: Buddhist Paintings Commissioned by Nuns of the Early Joseon Palace Cloisters
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Issue Date
2010-12-17Author
Choe, Kyungwon
Publisher
University of Kansas
Format
490 pages
Type
Dissertation
Degree Level
Ph.D.
Discipline
History of Art
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This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
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This dissertation studies the three extant Buddhist paintings commissioned by Buddhist nuns in the palace cloisters of the sixteenth-century Joseon dynasty. The examination of the theme, iconography, and composition of each painting is incorporated to interpret their religious significance from the perspective of the social status of their patrons. The nun-patrons are identified either as widowed royal concubines who were removed from their residences and the position of influence in the inner quarters to live with fellow concubines in a common royal-residence-turned-cloister on the outskirts of the palace after their royal husbands died or as officially ordained practitioners from non-royal families. These women certainly experienced a multifaceted marginality at the centrum of the patriarchal Confucian polity in the religion, gender, family, and marriage systems. From this perspective, the paintings are presented as a visualization of the salvational aspirations of Buddhist women of the sixteenth-century Joseon court. By replacing the judgment scene above in the usual Ten Kings paintings with the Ksitigarbha assembly scene and combining it with the depiction of retribution in hell below, Ksitigarbha and the Ten Kings of Hell switches the thematic emphasis from "punishment through judgment" to "salvation from punishment," picturing the hope for salvation of the patrons. The Painting of King Sala adds the image of Lady Wonang at the critical moment of salvation, when the literature of the narrative relates only Prince Allakguk taken to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, exhibiting a greater hope for women's "salvation to paradise." The image of a fellow court woman crossing over to paradise in a dragon boat must have reassured nuns in the cloister of their own salvation. The Assembly for Welcoming the Dragon Boat of the Nine Grades of Rebirth in the Western Paradise highlights the scene where Buddha Amitabha ferries in salvific dragon boat the soul of a female devotee, which is the portrayal of the woman to whom the painting was dedicated. It depicts a more personalized prayer for "the salvation of a specific individual." The paintings are visual embodiments of the religious aspirations, patronage, and practice of Buddhist women of the Joseon palace cloisters.
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- Art History Dissertations and Theses [52]
- Dissertations [4701]
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