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Buddhist gures from the Jiajing period are rare, and inscribed Budai, the God of Happiness, and also called ‘the laughing
examples are exceptionally rare. The present piece is also Buddha’, was popular in Chinese culture for his association
notable for its large size, which provided the craftsman a with happiness, plenitude and wisdom of contentment. He is
greater surface on which to successfully capture the jovial often depicted with a joyful expression and wide smile whilst
nature of Budai. The inscription on this gure, dated to the wearing loosely- tted robes that reveal his large stomach.
fourth year of Jiajing (corresponding to 1525), suggests it was In Buddhism the role of Budai is to remind people of the
created by the high-ranking Liang Ji before the widespread ever-presence of the Buddha and to protect his laws. His
persecution of Buddhism. name means ‘cloth sack’ and comes from the bag that he is
conventionally depicted as carrying. A smaller gure of Budai,
The inscription reveals that Liang Ji was from Neiguanjian, attributed to the sixteenth century, cast in a similar robust
the Directorate of Palace Servants and one of the twenty-four manner, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st May 2010, lot
departments in the Ming Imperial Household (Neifu) which 1964. See also a smaller lacquered bronze gure of Buddha,
was run by eunuchs. Located just inside the northern palace dated to the 12th (1534) or 22nd (1544) year of Jiajing, sold at
wall near the Beian Gate, Neiguanjian was the largest of all the Christie’s South Kensington, 14th November 2002, lot 17.
eunuch departments in terms of personnel and o ce space,
with this directorate taking charge of palace construction of As a devoted follower of Daoism, the Jiajing emperor
all kinds, and responsible for providing household articles of attempted to suppress Buddhism and thus Buddhist gures
all sorts. It is considered the second most important eunuch from his era are comparably few in number. It is recorded that
department after Jingshifang, which was responsible for as early as the fth month of the sixth year of the emperor’s
the activities of the bedchamber. Under a zhangyin (grand reign (1527), the emperor ordered the Western Mountain
eunuch) various numbers of positions, including managers, ordination platform in Beijing and the one at Tianning
deputies, assistants, accountants and recorders were placed. monastery to be closed. Ordination ceremonies that had taken
The personnel of this o ce was divided into three shifts, each place every three years since 1391, to regulate the monastic
taking turns to stay overnight inside the Imperial City. Each population, were prohibited and a number of dedicated
shift had a foreman and an artisan, who specialized in various Confucian o cials took advantage of their emperor’s
aspects of construction and decoration. This o ce also kept undisguised anti-Buddhist feelings to persecute many
numerous warehouses and depots where rice, salt and ice, Buddhist followers and undermine establishments that dotted
as well as platforms for temporary use and other building the Chinese physical and social landscape. As a result, bronze
materials were stored. In addition, its personnel had access
to metals such as copper, tin, bronze and iron. Its many gures of Daoist immortals were more commonly produced;
workshops and factories set up in the country were under the see a large lacquered-bronze sculpture of Guanyu, inscribed
supervision of high ranking intendant eunuchs who, by custom, and dated to the 43rd year of Jiajing, in the Avery Brundage
could serve only four years in one station (see Shih-shsh Collection and held in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco,
Henry Tsai, Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, Albany, N.Y., 1996, San Francisco, published in Rene-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argence,
pp 43-44). It is possible that Liang Ji was one of these high- Chinese, Korea and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage
ranking zhangyin when he commissioned this piece. Collection, San Francisco, 1974, pl. 169, where it is noted that
‘the round and robust qualities of this piece, notably in the
belly area, are typical of the middle Ming period’ (p. 316). A
gure of the Sovereign of the Clouds of Dawn (Bixia Yuanjun),
with an inscription dating it to the rst year of Jiajing (1522),
was sold in our London rooms, 16th May 2012, lot 227.
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 153
