View source for Buddhist sculpture in Korea

[[File:Maitreya83.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Replica on display at Incheon Airport of [[National Treasure of Korea]] #83, a gilt-bronze Maitreya sculpture very closely related in style to the 7th century [[Koryu-ji|Kôryû-ji]] sculpture which was the first to be designated a [[National Treasure]] in Japan]] 

Buddhism is believed to have been introduced into the Korean kingdoms of [[Koguryo]] and [[Paekche]] in the 4th century, via the [[Northern Wei Dynasty]] ([[386]]-[[534]]), a dynasty of the [[Tuoba]] people, a Turkic people descended from the [[Xianbei]].<ref name=rawski123>Evelyn Rawski, ''Early Modern China and Northeast Asia: Cross-Border Perspectives'', Cambridge University Press (2015), 123-125.</ref> Though Korea initially copied Chinese styles of Buddhist sculpture, distinctive styles later emerged in each of the [[Three Kingdoms (Korea)|Three Kingdoms]]. These styles then merged into a single set of typical styles following the unification of Korea under the kingdom of [[Silla]] in the 7th century.

[[Tang Dynasty]] sculptural styles had a notable influence in the 7th-8th centuries, and Korean Buddhist sculpture developed into a "mature classical style" in the 8th century, a period sometimes described as a "golden age" for Korean Buddhist art. Meanwhile, the supply of [[copper]] dwindled, and the construction of Buddhist sculpture in [[iron]] - not widely used in Chinese or Japanese sculpture at all - flourished.

Chinese influences faded beginning in the 9th century, and the 10th to 12th centuries saw considerable growth and development in native Korean styles, including the production of a number of colossal Buddhist images. Buddhism and Buddhist sculpture flourished in the [[Goryeo]] Kingdom ([[918]]-[[1392]]), and came to be influenced by Tibeto-Mongolian styles in the 13th-14th centuries as the [[Mongols|Mongol]] [[Yuan Dynasty]] rose to dominance in China.

The adoption of [[neo-Confucianism]] as the official political philosophy of state under the [[Joseon]] dynasty (1392-[[1897]]) brought some considerable suppression of Buddhism; however, images continued to be constructed and worshipped throughout that period, down to today.

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==See also==
*[[Buddhist sculpture]]
*[[Buddhist sculpture in China]]
*[[Buddhist sculpture in Ryukyu]]

==References==
*Gallery labels, National Museum of Korea.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/48312383256/sizes/l][https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/48312405591/in/photostream/]
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[[Category:Buddhism]]
[[Category:Art and Architecture]]