Page 80 - Bonhams Image of Devotion Hong Kong December 2, 2021

1032
A GOLD EMBROIDERED SATIN BUDDHIST PRIEST’S ROBE
QING, 18TH/19TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.4515
134 x 304 cm (52 3/4 x 119 5/8 in.)

HKD400,000 - 600,000

清 十八/十九世紀 織金緞袈裟

Buddhist priestly robes (kashaya) such as this were worn by senior monastic
officials at special ceremonies, as indicated by the use of 25 bands, the highest
number allowed. Although the robe is made of luxurious materials, its design
evokes the patchwork of donated scraps worn by Shakyamuni and his followers
after taking a vow of poverty. The technical expertise and refined gold thread
employed to create this particular robe indicate its donor’s great wealth. It was
likely made at a Qing imperial workshop as a gift to a monastery or a monk of high
rank.

This robe is closely related to an imperial example made in 1833 and gifted to the
Guanghua temple in Shanxi province by the Daoguang emperor (1820-50), as
detailed in an attached note (Poly Auction, Beijing, 7 June 2017, lot 6120). Both
kashayas consist of overlaid bands embroidered with ribbon-tied vajras spaced
by scrolling elements, with a large lotus at the center of one of the longer borders.
The designs of vajras, lotuses, and scrolls from these two robes are almost
identical.

Also see a related example of a one-thousand Buddha kashaya in the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts (Jacobsen,Imperial Silks, 2000, Vol.1, p.369, no.144), and another
sold at Bonhams, New York, 19 March 2018, lot 3057. Other related 18th-
and 19th-century robes were sold by Christie’s, Paris, 13 June 2018, lot 211;
Sotheby’s, New York, 21 September 2007, lot 64 and 19th-20th March 2013, lot
475.

Published
Natalie Bazin, Rituels tibétains: Visions secrètes du Vème Dalaï Lama, Paris, 2002,
no.1, p.54.

Exhibited
Rituels tibétains: Visions secrètes du Vème Dalaï Lama, Musée Guimet, Paris, 6
November 2002 - 24 February 2003.

Provenance
Private European Collection

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