Detail

`The exhibition ``5000 Years of Korean Art`` has been held in the United States, in one city after another, since May 1, 1979 and is scheduled to continue through June 30, 1981, when it will have been held in a total of seven major cities. In an attempt to make the abundant and unique artistic heritage of the Korean people known throughout the world, the Ministry of Communications seizes this occasion to issue special stamps featuring some of the exhibits and other works of art valued as national treasures. And the following two stamps are the last of the sets planned for this year. There is something special about these two stamps. It is that they are the first Korean stamps printed in intaglio(i.e., printed with an engraved plate). They depict the same object, a Deva King, in Two different colors. Deva King This sculpture is carved on a vestibule wall of ``Sokkuram``, an artificial stone-cave temple in Kyongju, the like of which is rarely found in Korea. One of its differentiating features is that is was made by man, whereas those found 751 A.D. by Kim Dae Sung, who also designed the famous Buddhist temple Bulkuksa. Constructed in the hey of the Unified Shilla Period when Buddhism and its art were at their best in our history, this temple reflects the cream of the Buddhist art of the period. This Deva King, carved at the entrance as a guard of the Buddha inside, stands barefoot with glaring eyes. Unlike the other sculptured figures inside the cave, it features well-developed muscles and thus symbolizes strength. Deva Kings are believed to have been placed at the entrances of Buddhist temples as guards of Buddhism because they represent strength and the wisdom to keep off worries of life.`