• Conservation Science in Museum
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• v.31
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• pp.1-20
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• 2024

The "Buseoksa Temple Gwaebul" (1684, K969) in the possession of the National Museum of Korea is a large Buddhist hanging scroll produced for outdoor rituals (gwaebul) at the eponymous temple. The painting demonstrates the most complex composition among the existing Buddhist hanging scrolls as it depicts the Shakyamuni Buddha in the lower middle, surrounded by the Vairocana Buddha, Medicine Buddha, and Amitabha Buddha. This study examines the characteristics of the background fabric and the production methods of the scroll from Buseoksa Temple and explores the characteristics of the coloring techniques by integrating the results of a non-destructive analysis to determine the materials used for coloring. The gwaebul comprises a total of 13 panels, with 11 panels arranged side by side and one panel each added to the top and bottom. The background fabric of the painting consist of semi-transparent silk tabby for the nine panels in the center, and silk tabby for the four panels surrounding the four sides. The coloring materials used to paint the scroll were analyzed using X-ray fluorescence, and were confirmed to be inorganic pigments of red, yellow, green, blue, and white. For some parts painted in yellow and blue, the colors were expressed by first applying light white pigment before adding organic pigments. In addition, ink was used for the black lines and gold leaf was used for the patterns of the Buddhist robes. X-ray irradiation enabled the determination of the location and technique of coloring according to each pigment color by highlighting the difference in brightness depending on the main component and the thickness of each pigment.