Page 70 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist Art, New York

68 SOTHEBY’S NEW YORK 10 SEPTEMBER 2019 BODIES OF INFINITE LIGHT

320 A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF AMITAYUS

DATED QIANLONG XINSI YEAR,
CORRESPONDING TO 1761

cast seated in vajraparyankasana on a rectangular plinth, the
hands held in dhyana mudra and bearing a bumpa issuing
peacock plumes, wearing an elaborate crown and ornate jewelry,
the contemplative face and upswept hair with traces of red
and blue pigment, a sash tied over the proper left shoulder and
secured about the waist, all framed by a separately cast flaming
pierced mandorla, the front of the plinth with a textile draped
over the front and centered by a blossom, an inscription reading
Da Qing Qianlong xinsi nian jingzao (Respectfully made in the
xinsi year of the Qianlong period in the Great Qing Dynasty,
corresponding to 1761)
Height 8⅜ in., 21.2 cm
PROVENANCE
The Chang Foundation Collection.
LITERATURE
Jintongfo zaoxiang tulu/Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei,
1993, pl. 20.
Amitayus was among the most popular deities from the
Tibetan Buddhist pantheon in the Qing dynasty, particularly
in the Qianlong period. Emblematic of longevity, large
numbers of figures were commissioned in gilt-bronze and
porcelain by the Qianlong Emperor for the occasion of the
Empress Dowager Chongqing’s 60th and 70th birthdays.
The date of the present figure coincided with the Empress
Dowager’s 70th birthday.

清乾隆辛巳年（1761年） 銅鎏金無量壽佛坐像
《大清乾隆辛巳年敬造》款
來源
鴻禧美術館收藏
出版
《金銅佛造像圖錄》，台北，1993年，圖版20

$ 10,000-15,000