Page 152 - 2019 October Important Chinese Art Sotheby's Hong Kong

In her study of the Silk Road, Susan Whitfield states: “During by Bodhisattvas, sometimes also by the Buddha, and
the Chinese Tang and Northern Song periods (618-907 and occasionally by his disciples. Their transparency is often
960-1127 respectively), glass was still little known in China, very effectively rendered, with the hands holding the
and used almost exclusively by Buddhist communities. vessel being completely shown, including parts behind or
Glass was cherished because of its origin in the west, like underneath the object. This total transparency gave glass
Buddhism, and for its transparency, which was associated vessels something miraculous. Joseph Needham states that
with purity. Glass was also regarded as one of the Seven even in the Tang, naturalists still entertained the idea that
Treasures of the Buddhist Paradise, hence an appropriate they consisted of water or ice which had concreted after
material for offerings and religious accessories. Glass thousands of years in the earth (Joseph Needham, with
vessels in Buddhist stupas served two different purposes: Wang Ling and Kenneth Girdwood Robinson, Science and
they were used as reliquaries, to hold the precious remains Civilisation in China, vol. 4: Physics and Physical Technology,
of the historical Buddha Śākyamuni and important monks; or part I: Physics, Cambridge, 1962, p. 106).
they were given as offerings by devotees.” (Susan Whitfield, Susan Whitfield (op.cit.) talks particularly about foreign
The Silk Road, Trade, Travel, War and Faith, London, 2004, glass, mainly imported from Iran, since Chinese glass was so
p. 157).
much rarer; and a silk banner of the late ninth century in the
The Tang dynasty and the centuries proceeding it saw collection of the British Museum clearly shows a Bodhisattva
an unequalled flowering of the Buddhist doctrine, which holding a globular facetted bowl of foreign design, probably
exerted a major influence on all strata of Chinese society of Sasanian workmanship (Roderick Whitfield and Anne
right up to the court. In spite of repeated controversies that Farrer, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. Chinese Art from
unfolded around the growing popularity of this religion, the the Silk Route, the British Museum, London, 1990, cat. no.
increasing riches of temples and the explosion of the number 39) (fig. 1). Similar facetted bowls have been excavated in
of monasteries, Buddhism continued to grow in popularity. China and included, for example, in the exhibition China.
Emperors, who had a much closer affinity to Daoism and Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD, The Metropolitan
undertook repeated efforts to curtail the expansion of Museum of Art, New York, 2004-5, cat. nos 65 and 117).
the Buddhist religion, such as Emperor Xuanzong, for Most Buddhist paintings, however, depict glass vessels of
example, were nevertheless fascinated and attracted by more neutral shapes, which could be of local manufacture. A
Esoteric Buddhism with its mystical practices, as was kneeling Bodhisattva holding a large globular bowl, probably
Tang aristocracy in general. Even the radical prosecution of glass, can be seen, for example, in a wall painting of
of Buddhists in 845 only seems to have sparked off a cave 334, dating from the early Tang period (Zhongguo
temporary setback, of fairly short duration, for Buddhist shiku. Dunhuang Mogaoku [Grottoes of China. The Mogao
beliefs.
Grottoes in Dunhuang], Beijing, 1987, vol. 3, pl. 79) (fig. 2);
Glass vessels have been found in various Buddhist contexts, one of Buddha’s disciples is depicted with a blue glass bowl
in sarira (Buddha relic) tombs, in pagoda foundations, in in cave 57, also of the early Tang (op.cit., vol. 3, pl. 12); a
Buddhist cave temples, and are depicted not only in many mid-Tang wall painting in cave 112 depicts a Bodhisattva
wall paintings at Buddhist cave temples, particularly in with a lotus flower in a glass cup (op.cit., vol. 4, pl. 57); and
Dunhuang in Gansu province, but also on Buddhist textile a Bodhisattva holding a glass dish appears in a painted silk
banners of silk or hemp found there and elsewhere. Takashi banner of the late eighth/first half ninth century (Jacques
Taniichi has been able to locate over eighty glass vessels in Giès, ed., Les arts de l’Asie centrale. La collection Paul Pelliot
wall paintings of fifty Dunhuang caves, dating from the Sui du musée national des arts asiatiques – Guimet, Paris, 1995,
(581-618) to the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), in form of cups vol. 2, no. 27).
and stemmed cups, dishes, bowls and deep bowls, as well The technique of glass blowing was transmitted to China
as bottles (Takashi Taniichi, ‘Roman and Post-Roman Glass through foreigners and led to glass vessels of high quality
Vessels Depicted in Asian Wall Paintings’, Orient, vol. 22, to be produced in China. As An Jiayao states (China. Dawn
1986, pp. 128-142).
of a Golden Age, op.cit., p.58) “Except for the making of
Glass vessels are generally shown seemingly empty, that glass itself, glassblowing is the most significant invention in
is, perhaps meant to be filled with holy water, but are the history of glass production.” What makes blown glass
also shown holding lotus stems. They are generally held shapes like that seen here so fascinating, is that they seem