Page 108 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

1131

ANOTHER PROPERTY PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
1131
1132
A SMALL GOLD-SPLASHED BRONZE VOTIVE A RARE EMBROIDERED THANGKA OF DIETIES OF JAMBHALA
FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA EARLY MING DYNASTY, EARLY 15TH CENTURY
DAOGUANG PERIOD, INCISED WITH CYCLICAL GENGYIN DATE,
The thangka is divided into three registers of decoration framed by scroll
CORRESPONDING TO 1830, AND OF THE PERIOD
borders worked in couched gold thread. The top register is embroidered with
The bodhisattva wearing elaborate jewelry is shown seated on a lotus a sacred parasol amidst clouds, the middle register with a deity seated on a
base in dhyanasana with his left hand raised in vitarkamudra. The face is lotus-form base under an arch of ruyi clouds supported by vases, and the
held in a benevolent expression, with the hair arranged in a tall chignon lower register with fve lotus fower roundels enclosing lanca characters.
adorned with a foliate tiara. The back is carved with Tibetan inscriptions
14º x 6¬ in. (37.5 x 16.9 cm.)
followed by a Daoguang cyclical date.
3Ω in. (8.8 cm.) high $15,000-25,000
$4,000-6,000
This thangka depicts the Buddhist wealth deity, Jambhala. Jambhala is
清道光 灑金銅白度母背屏式坐像 《大清道光庚寅年敬造》刻款 often confused with the Hindu god Kubera, or the Buddhist Guardian King,
Vaishravana, as his unusual appearance descends from ancient Indian
yaksha fgures. In visual iconography, the Hindu god Kubera, also a wealth
deity, and Jambhala are essentially identical, while Vaishravana can be
easily distinguished by the presence of armor, among other things. In many
representations of Kubera, Vaishravana, and Jambhala (although not in the
case of the present fgure), the mongoose that the deity clutches spews
jewels, exemplifying the wealth-granting powers of all three deities.
Another similar small thangka of the same date, but without lanca characters
in the lower register, is in The Cleveland Museum of Art and is cited by
C.Y. Watt and Anne C. Wardwell, in When Silk was Gold, Central Asian and
Chinese Textiles, New York, 1997, pp. 207-9, no. 63. The authors state that at
least ten other small thangka from fve sets are known, which are all nearly
identical but difer slightly in the representation of the clouds around the
sacred parasol in the upper register, in the fgure in the center register,
and in use of letters or symbols in the lower register.
This thangka is likely from the same set as two thangka in the National
Museum of India, New Delhi (Himalayan Art Resource item nos. 64606 and
64606). The embroidery and representation of elements in the three registers
appears to be identical. Another set of three similar thangka depicting deities
of the Medicine Buddha mandhala sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 December
2015. This set is of the type that is slightly diferent than the present textile,
primarily in the representation of the clouds in the upper register.
1131
明初十五世紀 刺繡黃財神唐卡
(reverse)
106