Page 50 - Christie's Hong Kong May 31, 2017 Fine Buddhist Works of Art

fig. 2 Kesi Vajrabhairava Mandala, Yuan dynasty, 245.5 x 209 cm. Collection of fig. 3 An imperial embroidered silk thangka, Yongle period, 335.3

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. x 213.4 cm. Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 November 2014, lot
圖二 元 緙絲大威德金剛曼陀羅 紐約大都會博物館藏品
3001
圖三 明永樂御製紅閻摩敵刺繡唐卡 香港佳士得 2014 年 11 月 26 日拍

品 3001 號

fierce deities, the overall impression is highly decorative.The composition is highly 主次分明。主神大黑天體積相對龐大，其他客座尊神則各
ornamental and hierarchical, centred on the overly large Black Six-Arm Mahakala, 安其位，井然有序，卻又各個姿態生動。這個構圖在藏中
with each subsidiary figure in its designated space, yet the figures themselves are 十七、十八世紀唐卡上非常常見。
very dynamic in stance. This composition is found in many thangka attributed to
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in central Tibet. 此件緙絲織造工藝高超，應當是中國極為專精的作坊所
作。緙絲唐代已經出現，有可能起源於漢代。宋代時緙絲
The kesi weaving technique of this thangka indicates that it was a product of a 畫盛行一時，當時西夏地區便有緙絲的藏傳佛教唐卡傳
highly skilled atelier inside China. The kesi weaving technique was already known 世。元朝對藏傳佛教的信仰達到一個高峰，元皇室又經常
as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907), and was possibly invented in the Han dynasty 以緙絲為酬酢之禮，此時有精品緙絲唐卡出現，大都會博
(206 BC-AD 220). It was used during the Song dynasty (960-1279) for pictorial 物館便收藏了一件非常重要的元代例子（圖二）。藏傳佛
depictions. Kesi with Tibetan Buddhist iconography were produced in Xixia during 教在明代初期繼續盛行，而在此時期永樂及宣德皇帝製作
the twelfth to thirteenth centuries, and then in China during the Yuan dynasty 了許多華美的刺繡及緙絲唐卡贈與薩迦，喀舉及格魯派被
(1279-1368) when imperial veneration of Tibetan Buddhism was at its apogee and 邀請來京的上師。2014 年秋季香港佳士得拍賣的永樂御製
when kesi was the technique of choice for imperial gifts. For such an example, refer 紅閻摩敵刺繡唐卡即為例證（圖三）。到了晚明，最後幾
to a kesi Vajrabhairava Mandala in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of 個皇帝並不熱衷藏傳佛教，但是緙絲技術持續發達，在補
Art, accession number 1992.54 (fig. 2).The interest in Tibetan Buddhism continued 子上，服飾上或掛片上都還可以見到。十七世紀時緙絲花
during the years of the early Ming dynasty, especially in the early fifteenth century, 鳥人物畫及佛像持續盛行，並且受到皇室的贊助。本件緙
and it was during this time that fantastic embroidered and kesi thangka with Tibetan 絲中央的主圖像及一旁的裝飾紋飾都是緙絲製成，非常特
Buddhist iconography were created for the early Ming dynasty emperors, Yongle 別，應當是傳世孤品。
(1403-1425) and Xuande (1426-1435), to present to Tibetan Buddhist masters
of the Shakya, Kagyupa and Gelugpa schools, who had been invited to Beijing,
as evidenced by a highly important imperial embroidered silk thangka, sold at
Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 November 2014, lot 3001 (fig. 3). However, by the end
of the Ming dynasty there was a decline in interest in Tibetan Buddhism, as it was
not actively promoted by the late Ming emperors.The kesi technique did continue
to be used during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), notably in the making of rank
badges, costumes and wall hangings. By the seventeenth century kesi hangings with
figural and floral designs, as well as Buddhist iconography, were being produced and
continued to be popular, and to have imperial favour, throughout the Qing dynasty.
The present hanging is exceptional, and possibly unique, in that both the central
thangka and the surround are executed in the kesi technique.

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