Page 117 - Important Chinese Art Sothebys March 2019

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propertY oF a ChICaGo prIVate CoLLeCtor 明永樂 銅佛塔
AN INSCRIBED BRONZE STUPA 《大明永樂年施》款
YONGLE MARK AND PERIOD
來源
constructed in two parts, the lower component James W. 及 Marilynn Alsdorf 收藏
of beehive form cast with four graduated bands
representing the ‘Four steps’ and surmounted 展覽
by a cylindrical chamber sealed with a recessed 《A Collecting Odyssey: The Alsdorf
plate, the plate incised with a tibetan seed Collection of Indian and East Asian Art》，
syllable om in the center surrounded by the 芝加哥藝術博物館，芝加哥，1997年，
mantras of the Lords of the three Families 編號98
arranged in two concentric circles, the incised
text in-painted with vermillion pigment,
the base sealed with a second plate, the
upper component with the bumpa (dome)
surmounted by a square harmika incised on
one side with a six-character reign mark, and
supporting a tapering conical spire divided into
thirteen bands and a disc-shaped ‘parasol’
engraved on the underside with four emblems
of the tathagata Buddhas, all topped with
symbols for the sun, moon, and jewel, the
surface with traces of red lacquer, the inner
chamber of the lower component containing
a wood beehive-form box inscribed to the
exterior with sutras, the text also in-painted red,
and housing scrolls within (2)
height 8⅝ in., 21.9 cm
PROVENANCE
Collection of James W. and marilynn alsdorf.
EXHIBITED
A Collecting Odyssey: The Alsdorf Collection
of Indian and East Asian Art, art Institute of
Chicago, Chicago, 1997, cat. no. 98.
this stupa was originally produced as part
of a set of eight stupas, each of which
commemorates one of the eight major
events in the life of the historical Buddha.
at least two such sets were produced in the
early ming dynasty, however, neither set has
remained intact. the form of the present
stupa, the padmakataka stupa (‘stupa of
heaped Lotuses’), commemorates the birth
of shakyamuni at Lumbini and symbolizes the
seven steps which the Buddha took in each of
the four directions immediately after his birth.
Compare a similar example illustrated in Art
and Faith at the Crossroads: Tibeto-Chinese
Buddhist Images and Ritual Implements from
the 12th to the 15th Century, robert Bigler,
Zurich, 2013, cat. no. 53. two more elaborate
gilt-bronze versions of the ‘stupa of heaped
Lotuses’ are now in the collection of the tibet
museum in Lhasa, and published in Xue yu
cang zhen : Xizang wen wu jing hua / Treasures
from Snow Mountain: Gems of Tibetan Cultural
Relics, shanghai museum, 2001, cat. nos 46
and 47. additional gilt-bronze stupas that
were produced in sets of eight have also
been preserved in Lhasa and published in Liu
hongxiao, Budalag ong mi bao / Gems of the
Potala, Beijing, 1999, pl. 167.
$ 60,000-80,000

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