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A YONGLE IMPERIAL STONE BUDDHA
This extremely rare limestone stele is intricately carved in behalf of sentient beings throughout his numerous animal
varying levels of relief with a resonant image of Shakyamuni and human incarnations, Shakyamuni recognised that it was
Buddha seated on a lotus throne, surrounded by exotic his destiny to be poised on the threshold of enlightenment.
imagery of Indian origin. It is preserved in extraordinarily In response to Mara’s query Shakyamuni moved his right
good condition, retaining extensive traces of its original red hand from the meditation position in his lap and touched
pigments and gilding. Created in the Yongle period, probably the ground stating “the earth is my witness”. This act of
for a pagoda or other ceremonial building, either at Nanjing unwavering resolve caused Mara and his army of demons and
or the new capital that the emperor established at Beijing, it temptresses to disperse, leaving Shakyamuni to experience
is a historically important legacy of a golden age in China’s his great enlightenment. The episode took place at the
illustrious history. adamantine throne, vajrasana, beneath the bhodi tree at Bodh
Gaya, eastern India, a location said to have been especially
This iconographic form in which the historical Buddha is empowered to expedite the Buddha’s enlightenment.
seated with his right hand in the earth-touching position,
bhumisparsha mudra, recalls a momentous episode from his Close comparisons with dated Yongle statuary and calligraphy
spiritual biography in which he triumphs over Mara just prior enable a firm attribution of the current stele to the Yongle
to his enlightenment. Having vowed to remain in meditation period. The style and iconography of the Shakyamuni Buddha
until he penetrated the mystery of existence, Shakyamuni is closely related to that on two famous Yongle reign-marked
was visited by Mara, a demon associated with the veils and gilt-bronze figures of Shakyamuni Buddha, one in the British
distractions of mundane existence. The Buddha remained Museum, illustrated in Ming. Fifty Years that Changed China,
unmoved by all the pleasant and unpleasant distractions with British Museum, London, 2014, fig. 195, the other from the
which Mara sought to deflect him from his goal. According Speelman collection, included in James Watt and Denise
to some traditional accounts, Mara’s final assault consisted Patry Leiden, Defining Yongle: Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-
of an attempt to undermine the bodhisattva’s sense of Century China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
worthiness by questioning Shakyamuni’s entitlement to seek 2005, pl. 24 and sold in these rooms, 7th October 2006, lot
the lofty goal of spiritual enlightenment and the consequent 808 (fig. 1). The images of the Buddha on the current stele
freedom from rebirth. Aided by spirits who reminded him and on both gilt-bronzes are depicted seated on similar lotus
of the countless compassionate efforts he had made on pedestals on elaborate square thrones. They all share the
216 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比
