Page 88 - Bonhams FINE CHINESE ART London November 2 2021

266
A RARE CORAL-GROUND SILK EMBROIDERED ‘BUDDHIST
WHEEL AND DEER’ BOX COVER
Yuan Dynasty
The panel with square shape, delicately embroidered in counted stitch
cross hatch stitch with gold, blue, green and red threads depicting
a pair of recumbent smiling deer flanking a central blossoming lotus
supporting the Wheel of Dharma, symbolising compassion and
wisdom, amidst a profusion of lotus buds and scrolling foliage, all on a
coral red damask ground, mounted.
The coral red panel 13cm (5 1/8in) square.
£2,000 - 3,000
CNY18,000 - 27,000
元 珊瑚紅地繡雙鹿法輪紋盒蓋
Provenance: Linda Wrigglesworth, London
來源：倫敦Linda Wrigglesworth
Compare the style of the embroidery on the present lot with the one
used on a pair of silk knee pads, 13th/14th century, illustrated by
J.Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars. Chinese Costumes and Textiles,
Berkeley, CA, p.27.
267
A CORAL-GROUND SILK WOVEN ‘DOUBLE BUDDHIST
MANTRA’ PANEL
266 Mid-15th/early 17th century
The panel of rectangular shape, finely interwoven in brocade weave
with Lanca characters in Kinran technique, flat strips of double-layered
paper faced with gold leaf, all within a gilded border on a deep coral-
red ground, selvage on one edge showing, mounted.
45cm (17 6/8in) long x 35cm (13 6/8in) wide.
£2,000 - 3,000
CNY18,000 - 27,000
十五世紀中期至十七世紀早期 珊瑚紅地梵文織金錦
Provenance: Linda Wrigglesworth, London
來源：倫敦Linda Wrigglesworth
Both the text and the framing band on the present panel are brocaded
in gold against a tightly woven ground of rust-red silk. The selvages
along the left and right weft edge indicate that this panel preserves the
full breath of the loom width.
The characters depicted on the present panel represent the
transliteration of a Sanskrit invocation or prayer; they are written in
Lanca script, which was used in Nepal and Tibet for Buddhist mantra,
and also in China for Tibetan-style Buddhist invocations and prayers.
The first six syllables comprise a mantra that, from left to right, reads
Oh mani padme hum which is conventionally translated as ‘Oh, the
jewel in the lotus remain in my heart’. The seventh syllable, reading hri,
267 is a ‘seed-character’ symbolising the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, with
whom this mantra is traditionally associated.
Although the shape of the present lot suggests that it may have
served as cover for a Buddhist sutra or holy text, this panel may have
probably been part of a vertical banner hung from a Tibetan Buddhist
or Lamaist temple in China; see C.Brown, ‘The Amy S.Clague
Collection of Chinese Textiles’, in Orientations, vol.31, no.2, February
2000, p.35.
Image after Weaving China's Past. The Amy S.Clague Compare with a similar silk woven Buddhist mantra panel, mid 15th/
Collection of Chinese Textiles, Seattle, 2001, pp.38-39. early 17th century, illustrated in Weaving China’s Past. The Amy
S.Clague Collection of Chinese Textiles, Seattle, 2001, pp.38-39.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
86 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.