Page 15 - Wrathful Images

Given the Yongle and Xuande Emperors’ espousal of Buddhism, significant works of art such as the present
bronzes were cast within the imperial court of Beijing. These two figures owned by the Bodhimanda
Foundation were likely to have been created for Tibetan Buddhist monasteries along the Sino-Tibetan
border (Tib. Drotsang Dorje Chang; see “Qutan Monastery”, Project Himalayan Art, projecthimalayanart.
rubinmuseum.org/essays/qutan-monastery-drotsang-dorje-chang) in the northwestern region (present-
day Qinghai province), which received continued support from the Ming court. A mural of Panjarnata in
the aforementioned monastery is strikingly similar to the 15th-century Tibetan painting cited previously
(fig. 3). In addition to being an act that would produce good karma (Tib. le-kyi-dre), the commissioning of
such impressive bronzes for a site like this served as an element of political strategy.

Today the majority of Ming Imperial bronzes can only be found only in museums or important Tibetan
monasteries that were patronized by Yongle and Xuande emperors—as well as later Ming emperors.
Moreover, the exceptional size of these bronze figures downplay the size of nearly all those that have come
to market in the past two decades. The Xuande mark and period Panjarnata Mahakala is by far the largest
early Ming reign-marked bronze in private hands, measuring 74 cm. high, outranked only by two Yongle
bodhisattvas, one at Qinghai Provincial Museum, the other at the Cernuschi Museum in Paris.

This is worthy of comparison to the well-known bronze figures of a Xuande-reign-mark Shakyamuni Buddha
(acc. no., M.C. 686) and a Yongle-reign-mark bodhisattva (acc. no, M.C. 5173) in the Musée Cernuschi . The
Yongle-period Kapaladhara Hevjra is of truly exceptional size and quality as well, with nothing comparable in
height published in any monastic or museum collection.

Opposite:
Left: Fig. 2: “Mahakala and
Companions”, Central Tibet
(Sakyapa Monastery), 15th
century, 32⅝ x 28⅜ in.,
83 x 72 cm, Private Collection.
Opposite:
Right: Fig. 3: Panjarnata
Mahakala, south wall, west
door wall, Qutandian, Qutansi
monastery, Qinghai Province.
對頁：
左: 圖二：大黑天，藏中（薩迦
寺），十五世紀，83 × 72公分，
私人收藏
對頁：
右: 圖三：寶帳大黑天，青海省，
瞿曇寺，瞿曇殿南牆、西門牆

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