Page 171 - Ming_China_Courts_and_Contacts_1400_1450 Craig lunas

the temple praised as the ‘Hall of Enriching the State’ was Conclusion
founded by the Xuande emperor in fulfillment of his father’s This short chapter has only scratched the surface of Tibetan
wishes. By the power of the king’s faith an image of Vajradhara art vis-a-vis the Ming court, both for use in the centres of
descended from the sky. The statue [which was installed there] power and its application on the periphery. Textual evidence
is renowned among the Chinese as a relic of the Yongle suggests that Qutan Monastery was only one example of a
emperor. It is recorded in a stele that to fulfill the wishes of the larger pattern of imperial patronage along the Ming-
Emperor’s heart, [the image] came from the land of the gods
for the benefit of sentient beings of the human realm. 44 Tibetan frontier. However Tibetan in iconography the
imagery within Qutan Monastery’s halls may appear at first
Longguo Hall (Tib. Srid skyong gling) glance, Chinese painters’ hands are revealed in various
The halls of Qutan Monastery become increasingly subtle formal elements. This suggests that the Chinese
splendorous in their imperial architecture as one moves painters of the early Ming imperial atelier were able to
toward the rear of the complex; Longguodian 隆國殿 (Hall adjust the style and iconography of their paintings between
of Enriching the State) (see Pl. 21.3 in this volume) is said to Tibetan (within the halls) and Chinese (in the outer gallery).
be based on the blueprint of Fengtiandian 奉天殿 (Hall of While one might be tempted to dismiss the Tibetan elements
Service to Heaven) in Beijing’s Forbidden City. The that appear in otherwise Chinese architectural contexts
description in the History of the Dharma in Amdo implies that found at temples such as Qutan Monastery as simply
Longguo Hall was built as the Yongle emperor’s memorial resulting from their close proximity to the Sino-Tibetan
hall, a statement reiterated in the bilingual dedicatory border – in other words, as a marker of their ‘regionalism’ or
Imperial Bestowal of Qutan Monastery’s Rear Hall Stele (Yuzhi ‘provincialism’ – evidence presented here suggests that a
Qutansi houdian bei 御制瞿曇寺後殿碑) dated the second year more complex and imperially sponsored formation of
of Xuande (1427). It is also implied that this memorial hall Sino-Tibetan art was operative in the Ming court, both in
45
was built by Xuande in conjunction with the Yongle the centre of power, Beijing, and in the outer reaches of the
emperor’s funerary rites. empire.
To put it another way, as Shane McCausland observed in
Eunuchs on the periphery his remarks after the presentation of this paper at the British
Longguo Hall contains a ‘Long Life to the Emperor’ Museum conference, this evidence suggests a Ming royal
(huangdi wansui 皇帝萬歲) inscription on a wooden placard awareness and participation in regional and blended modes
which records that it was: ‘built in … the second year of of artistic practice, their awareness of the agency of such
Xuande [1427] by Meng Ji 孟繼, Shang Yi 尚義, Chen patronage, and that all of this was indeed part of Ming
Xiang 陳享 and Yuan Qi 袁琦, eunuchs of the Directorate policy. I would add that, rather than a Ming innovation, this
of Imperial Accoutrements’.This Director of Imperial was built on a firm foundation of Mongolian precedence in

Accoutrements, Meng Ji, was sent by the Ming court to order to project themselves as rulers on the Inner Asian
personally supervise the construction of Longguo Hall. model, moulded in the image of Qubilai Khan.
Such a high-ranking officer of the imperial construction
apparatus was almost certainly accompanied by numerous Notes
high-ranking master craftsmen from the imperial atelier, 1 This chapter is an abbreviated discussion based on chapters 2 and
and Longguo Hall’s architectural workmanship has been 3 of my dissertation, ‘Ethnicity and Esoteric Power: Negotiating
favourably compared to other inner court productions by Sino-Tibetan Synthesis in Ming Buddhist Painting’ (Debreczeny
2007), some of the findings of which were previously published in
eunuchs, such as Fahai Monastery and Zhihuasi 智化寺 Debreczeny 2003. Thanks to Elliot Sperling, Shane McCausland,
(Transformation of Wisdom Monastery) in Beijing. It seems Yu-Ping Luk, Craig Clunas and Jessica Harrison-Hall.
likely that this Yuan Qi on the Qutan Monastery tablet is 2 Hongwu patronised several Tibetan lamas and their monastic
the same Chinese official to whom Palden Tashi gave full projects, including Qutan Monastery’s founder Sangyé Tashi
(Sangs rgyas bkra shis; Ch. Lama Sanluo 剌麻三囉; d. 1414) in
ordination vows in 1434, seven years after the completion of Qinghai province. See Sperling 2001.
Longguo Hall. 46 3 For instance, the head of the Sakya order Kunga Tashi Gyaltsen
Supporting evidence which further expands our (Kun dga’ bkra shis rgyal mtshan; 1349–1424) played an important
understanding of the eunuch Meng Ji’s role in the political role in both Yuan and Ming court connections with
Gyantse (rGyal rtse).
construction of Qutan Monastery is found in a set of Chinese 4 This sculpture of Mahākāla was counted among the objects of
archival records of successive generations of imperial edicts inheritance symbolic of Mongol rule alongside Chinggis Khan’s
for donations to the temple (1651): ‘During the Yongle period spirit banner and the imperial seal. For more on the political role of
imperial envoys such as the eunuch Meng 孟 and Mahākāla (and Pañjaranātha in particular) within the Mongol
empire see Grupper 1979 and Debreczeny 2014.
commander Tian Xuan 田選, respecting the imperial 5 Stoddard 1985.
edict(s), built the two halls, Baoguang and Longguo, and 6 Prince Zhuang of Liang (1411–41), was a grandson of Yongle and
erected a stele record’. It would seem from various textual brother of Xuande. At least one other golden image of
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evidence that both Baoguang and Longguo halls, as well as Pañjaranātha Mahākāla was also found in the same tomb, along
the covered gallery and eight of the subsidiary halls, were with other Tibetan Buddhist imagery. See Hubei sheng wenwu
kaogu yanjiusuo and Zhongxiang shi bowuguan 2007; and Hubei
conceived of as part of the same construction project by the sheng bowuguan 2007.
Yongle emperor, and it is stated directly that Xuande was 7 Also explored in Robinson 2008.
‘fulfilling the wishes of his father’, and thus completing his 8 Tsai 2001, 29–33.
vision. 9 Sperling 1983, 74–6.
10 Tsai 2001, 84.

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