• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.122-147
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• 2012

The Four-guardian statues in Song-gwang buddhist temple, Suncheon, Korea, have been remade in AD 1628 and have been repaired and repainted over several times since then. Therefore, the study of the pigments applied on the statues can provide good chance for investigation about pigments used in the late Chosun Period. Pigments on fragments from Gwang-mok(Virupaksha), one of the Four-guardian statues, have been analyzed by optical microscope, SEM-EDX and XRD in order to identify the components and compounds. Six types of materials were found from the fragments, which are soil layer with brown clay band, soil layer containing a lot of fibers, Korean paper with loose texture, Korean paper with dense texture, silk, and hemp textile. Presumably, the soil layer which have brown clay band is basis layer and the other layers are repaired layers. From comparative study for the components of the pigments, applied on upper and lower parts of the repaired layers, we have concluded that those repaired layers had been applied on the statue by the following order; basis layer ${\rightarrow}$ Korean paper with loose texture ${\rightarrow}$ soil containing a lot of fibers ${\rightarrow}$ silk ${\rightarrow}$ hemp textile and Korean paper with dense texture. In addition, the years that those materials were applied on the statue have been estimated as 1720~1891, 1926, 1946 and 1976, respectively. The distinct features of each age are as the following; lead white and copper chloride hydroxide are major white and green pigments before 1891, zinc white, barium white, emerald green, and ultramarine blue appear after 1926 and titanium white uprises around 1976. Our result presented here, study on pigments applied on traditional statues over several different periods, will provide good database for future study on pigments used for traditional painting in Buddist temples and Dancheong.