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A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF JAMBHALA
MING DYNASTY, 15TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 4743
11.3 cm (4 3/5 in.) high

HKD1,000,000 - 1,500,000
明 十五世紀 銅鎏金財神像

This lavishly cast figure depicts Jambhala, a god linked to wealth who was widely
worshipped in India, Nepal, Tibet, and China. His rounded belly symbolizes his
abundance as does the mongoose held in his left hand, whose profusion of
jewels stream from his mouth. The extravagant ornamentation of crown, beaded
necklaces, and bracelets overstate his worldly and spiritual affluence as he sits
in the posture of royal ease. Excessive embellishments of dense jewelry, all richly
gilded such as these, coincide with stylistic preferences of the Ming court, notably
under the reign of the Yongle (1403-24) and Xuande (1426-35) emperors.

Reclaiming Chinese territory and culture after the collapse of the Mongol ruled
Yuan dynasty became paramount during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). While
the Chinese sought to divorce themselves from Mongol era precedents, they
continued to employ a model of imperial power defined through a Tibetan
Buddhist language of divine rulership, as the Mongols had done so during their
reign. Hence, in the process of revitalizing Chinese heritage, threads of Tibetan
Buddhism continued to buttress imperial power within the Ming court. The Yongle
emperor specifically sought to reestablish a priest patron relationship with the
Karmapa, and in doing so fashioned himself as a chakravartin, a universal ruler,
through the divine aspect of Manjushri.

In an expression of this celestial power, imperial workshops continued to produce
art for use in the imperial court as well for the dissemination of diplomatic gifts,
which reached an apex under the Yongle emperor. A Sino-Tibetan synthesis
of lavishness and opulence defined the Yongle emperor’s imperial atelier
which continued into the Xuande reign. The bronze sculptures harnessed the
languid warmth of Nepalese casts and combined it with the refined precision of
ornamentation of the Chinese aesthetic, in a style extreme in its splendor.

This small, yet highly detailed Jambhala comes from this tradition of casting. Each
surface is layered in decoration all highlighted by the warm hue of the gilding.
The crown cast in the round with each plaque composed of two stacked beads,
the sashes behind the ears curled like makara mouths on either side, the long
roundel earrings with pendants hanging on the tips of the shoulder, the two long
cascading locks hanging down the arms, and the thick wavy eyebrows detail the
face. Looped sashes with dangling pendants drape across the chest and back
as a beaded necklace falls along the protruding belly. Deep engravings of floral
patterns decorate the dhoti overlayed with a beaded belt and cascading strings
which fall across the waist and back. For an object of this scale, all the surfaces
are covered in decorative embellishments.

The small scale suggests the bronze’s portable use which is also seen in other
casts of the Ming dynasty and the following periods soon after, such as the
wrathful deity and Jambhala illustrated in Bigler, Art and Faith at the Crossroads,
Zurich, 2013, pp. 89 & 93, figs. 33 & 35. Both these figures also possess stout
figures and are extravagantly ornamented in a measure that opposes simplicity,
even in pieces of this small size.

Provenance
Acquired in Paris, 1989

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