Page 56 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
1535
A RARE EMBROIDERED SILK THANGKA
DEPICTING THE DALAI LAMA
18TH CENTURY
The panel is finely embroidered in satin stitch and
chain stitch depicting the Dalai Lama holding a lotus
flower in the right hand and a Buddhist scripture
in the left, wearing layered robes and seated in
dhyanasana beneath a fruiting tree, with an offering
basket before him. The upper and lower registers
depict four earlier incarnations.
The panel 21º in. (53.9 cm.) x 16æ in. (42.5 cm.),
framed and glazed
$60,000-80,000
PROVENANCE:
Charlotte Horstmann, Thailand, acquired prior to
1960.

清十八世紀 緞繡達賴喇嘛唐卡
The composition of this fine embroidery follows
the style of contemporaneous Dalai Lama lineage
paintings. The Dalai Lama depicted in the
embroidery possibly represents Kalsang Gyatso
(1708-1757), the seventh Dalai Lama, illustrated in
a lineage painting in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum - 59 - Tangka-Buddhist Painting of Tibet,
Hong Kong, 2003, pp. 10-11, no. 7. Kalsang Gyatso
wears similarly rendered robes, the famed yellow
hat of the Gelupka school of Tibetan Buddhism, and
is similarly shown holding a lotus in his right hand
and Buddhist scripture in his left, but also carries a
sword and book, two additional attributes which are
1534 typically associated with Manjushri.

1534
A GILT REPOUSSÉ BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA
QIANLONG SEVEN-CHARACTER JING ZAO INCISED MARK IN A LINE AND
OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
The figure is shown seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus base with hands in
bhumispharsamudra, and wearing layered robes over a waist-tied dhoti, his hair
arranged in tight curls surmounted by an usnisha. There is a Tibetan inscription on the
front of the figure on top of the base. The lower edge of the base is inscribed with a
nianhao and the identity of the Buddha, in Chinese, Nan Shifo (Buddha who offers help
in difficult times), and three other inscriptions in Mongolian and Tibetan. The base is
sealed with a base plate incised with a double vajra.
12¿ in. (30.8 cm.) high

$30,000-40,000
PROVENANCE:
Lieutenant Commander John Bates, Victoria, Australia, acquired in East Asia in the
early 20th century.
Private Collection, Melbourne, Australia.

清乾隆 鎏金銅錘鍱釋迦摩尼佛坐像
「大清乾隆年敬造」 「難施佛」單行刻款

Fig. 1 Buddha Shakyamuni with disciples, 18th century, silk
and metal thread embroidery. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Rogers Fund, 1951, 51.129.
1534 (mark)