Page 272 - Christie's Asia Week March 2024 Chinese Art

重要中४藝術暨高曼珍藏

(another view)

Although the Kangxi Emperor may have propagated Tibetan Buddhism purpose more difficult to ascertain. The nature behind the present work
initially as a means to control the Mongol tribes, he eventually became is not entirely known, but it is often suggested that such cast images of
a devout Buddhist himself. After 1696, he increasingly came under Amitayus were commissioned for the birthdays of the Emperor or his
the sway of the Mongolian lama and artist, Zanabazar, and from royal family. As Amitayus was considered to be the deity of long life,
1701 until 1723 alone, he himself produced more than four hundred images of the bodhisattva were fitting gifts for such occasions. In the
handwritten versions of the Heart Sutra and Medicine Buddha Sutra. reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795) for instance, thousands of
He also commissioned large-scale gilt-bronze images of various small, and significantly less expensive, images of Amiyaus were cast for
Buddhist deities during his reign. A gilt-bronze figure of Shadakshari the sixtieth, seventieth, and eightieth birthdays of Qianlong’s mother,
Avalokiteshvara, now in the collection of the Beijing National Palace the Empress Dowager Xiaoshengxian.
Museum, was commissioned by the Kangxi Emperor in memory of his
recently deceased grandmother, the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang; A number of identical examples to the present work are known, both in
the poetic inscription, incised along the base in Tibetan, Chinese, museum and private collections, and have appeared on the market in
Manchurian, and Mongolian, dates the work to the 25th year of recent years. Most noteworthy is a similar example from The Collection
his reign, corresponding to 1686 (see The Complete Collection of of Peggy and David Rockefeller, sold at Christie’s New York, 10 May
Treasures of the Palace Museum - Buddhist Statues of Tibet, Hong 2018, lot 982. (Fig. 1) All of these similar examples are almost identical
Kong, 2008, p. 237, no. 226). Another large-scale (69.2 cm. high) gilt- in weight and proportions, indicating they were likely cast from a mold,
bronze image of Dipankara Buddha, now in the collection of the Rhode and many retain some gilt lacquer and cold gold on the torso and face,
Island School of Design, is dated by its inscription to 1662 and was as in the Rockefeller example. It is unclear if they were cast at different
likely presented to an important monastery in Tibet as a gift. times or as a single group, but many, including the current work, bear
numbers inscribed under the edge of the base. Whether they were cast
Many of the massive gilt-bronzes commissioned during the Kangxi individually or at one time, an enormous amount of bronze and gilding
Emperor’s reign, however, do not bear inscriptions, making their would have been required for each image, and would thus have been an
extremely important commission.

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