Page 384 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art

3714
A FAMILLE-ROSE FIGURE OF
AMITAYUS
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG
PERIOD
seated in dhyanasana, the hands held in
dhyanamudra set with a pricket formerly
supporting a vase which is now missing, the face
and body applied with a faint wash of iron-red
enamel, the deity with serene facial expression
and lowered eyes, the hair enamelled blue
and falling over the shoulders in two curled
tassels, the rest swept into a high topknot and
secured by an ornamental jewel worn behind the
five-leaf crown, further adorned with jewelled
necklaces, armbands, bracelets, anklets and
foot accessories, the shoulders draped with a
billowing olive-green shawl wrapped around
the lower arms, the dhoti with an outer layer
decorated with gilt floral scrolls on an iron-red
ground covering the back, revealing the bright
yellow inner layer with red floral roundels, the
underside of the figure inscribed with the number
ten (shi), supported on a separately potted
triangular lotus pedestal enamelled in pink
with two tiers of stylised lotus petals against a
turquoise ground, with the tips of the scarf falling naturalistically toned flesh rather than gilt. There
over the front, the interior of the base inscribed
with the number two (er)
28.8 cm, 11⅜ in.
HK$ 1,800,000-2,500,000
US$ 231,000-320,000
清乾隆 粉彩無量壽佛坐像
「十」、「二」字
382 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比
This finely carved figure can be identified as
Amitayus, the deity invoked to cure illness and
upon death for the hope of being transported to
the world of Amitabha who resides in the Western
Paradise. The adoration of brightly coloured
deities has a very long tradition in Tibetan
Buddhism and the wide colour range available
in the famille-rose palette made porcelain an
ideal medium to create such Buddhist figures.
However, the making of such figures required
the highest level of workmanship due to the
complicated modelling and repeated firing
necessary to achieve the perfect result. Hence
the number of figures produced remained small
and were mainly for the temples of the imperial
palace precincts.
The adoration of brightly coloured deities has a
long tradition in Tibetan Buddhism and the wide
colour range available in the famille-rose palette
made porcelain an ideal medium to create such
Buddhist figures. Nevertheless, these figures
remain extremely rare and it is likely that they
were made on special commission.
It is rare to find these devotional figures with
is an identically modelled and painted figure
of slightly smaller size in the British Museum
dated to the eighteenth century and donated
to the museum in the nineteenth century by
Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826-1897). A
closely related example was sold in these rooms,
29th October 2001, lot 606. Compare also a gilt-
decorated figure, sold in our Paris rooms, 16th
December 2010, lot 196.