Page 473 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

he holds a snake in his left hand. His complex
armor and padding is of Chinese style, derived
ultimately from Tang dynasty (618-907) repre-
sentations of the Guardian Kings.
Its direct antecedents are to be found on the
ceremonial marble gate called Juyong Guan, built
north of Beijing between 1342 and 1345 by the
Mongol rulers of Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)
China. There the Four Guardian Kings dominate
the reliefs decorating inner walls of the vaulted
passage. The vigor of these reliefs, and the
inscription repeated in six languages — Chinese,
Mongolian, Uighur, Tibetan, Sanskrit, and
Tangut —attest the extent of Mongol power and
the complexity of the Mongol domain in the four-
teenth century. In the service of their Lamaist
form of Buddhism the Mongol rulers brought
Nepali and Tibetan artist-craftsmen to their
capital at Beijing, including the young Nepalese
artist Aniko. Arriving in Beijing in the company
of the distinguished Tibetan monk Thags pa
(1235-1280), the young Aniko quickly became
minister in charge of the imperial workshops
producing religious art, and a major stylistic
innovator.
Much of the iconography and representational
conventions established in the Yuan dynasty for
Lamaist paintings and sculpture continued to 32O
govern Lamaist art during the succeeding Ming Portable shrines, both diptychs and triptychs,
dynasty —both the images intended for Chinese PORTABLE SHRINE IN TRIPTYCH FORM played major roles in the dissemination of the
Lamaist temples and those exported to central faith and the popularization of certain deities.
Asia and Tibet. The close and mutually beneficial i$th-i6th century Ivory and wooden fragments exist of shrines of
ties between Tibet and China in the early Ming Chinese this type dating between the fifth and eighth cen-
period can be symbolized by the two-year visit carved and engraved hardwood tury. One single example is perfectly preserved,
(1406-1408) to the capital, Nanjing, by the fifth height 25.4 (10) and still emanates the magic that must have issued
60;
Gordon 1959, 106; Sawa
1972, fig.
incarnation of the chief lama of the Karma-pa references: 107-109; Snellgrove 1987, 2:397-408, from all of these early material evidences of the
1977,
Paris
lineage, De-bzhin-gshegs-pa (1357-1419), who 2:429-434, pis. 65, 72; S. Huntington and]. new, true faith — the portable shrine at Kongobu-
acted as spiritual advisor to the Yongle emperor. Huntington 1990, 218-395, 55^~5^ ji, the Shingon Buddhist temple on sacred Mt.
Many imperial reign-marked pieces — both images Koya in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. Legend has
The
Cleveland Museum
and implements — of fine quality are known from Martha Holden Jennings of Art, Andrew R. and the shrine brought to Japan by Monk Kukai (Kobo
Fund
this time. Daishi, 774-835), who returned in 806 from study
Lamaist works of middle Ming continued to Identification of the twenty-one deities repre- in China to establish the enormously influential
show a creative mixture of Nepali, Tibetan, and sented within the confines of this small folding Shingon (True Word) school of Esoteric Buddhism
Chinese stylistic elements. If the main images of shrine is beyond the competence of this writer. in Japan. It is not unlikely; who but a man of
Vajrayana Buddhism (Tantric Buddhism with an The central figure in the upper register of the Kukai's intellect and charisma could have com-
admixture of pre-Buddhist Tibetan "Bon" worship central section is Padmasambhava (Lotus Born), manded such a treasure? In form and size the
of nature deities and demons), even those of and the rest are major deities of the Lamaist per- Kongobu-ji shrine is almost identical with the
Chinese manufacture, are strongly Tibetan in suasion. Here the content is not as important as shrine exhibited here, but its iconography is quite
appearance, such secondary images as Guardian the context. Padmasambhava was a historical- different. The Kongobu-ji shrine is a classic
Kings (like Virupaksha) and luohan (cat. 308) are legendary sage, founder of the Indo-Tibetan presentation of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni,
more indebted to Chinese modes of representing Lamaist tradition. He is reputed to have come flanked by two bodhisattvas, secondary figures,
warriors and sages. from Nepal circa 779 at the request of the Tibetan guardians, lions, and attendants. The present
Inlays of semiprecious stones, uncommon on ruler and to have quelled the gods and demons Lamaist shrine is centered on a quasi-historical
Ming Chinese artifacts, were more common in (Bon) of the region. He also founded the first founder of a complex faith who, by the time this
Tibet, perhaps indicating (according to Von monastery, bSam yas, and there installed the shrine was made, had acquired wholly legendary
Schroeder) that this image of Virupaksha was Indian version of Tantric Buddhism, which gen- status and attributes.
made for Tibetan use. s. E . L . erated a rift in Tibet between sects looking south The refinement of the detailed carving and
to India and those looking to powerful Tang engraving suggests a Chinese craftsman accus-
China. Ironically, this later shrine extols Padma- tomed to working in fine-grained hardwoods and
sambhava, champion of Indian Tantrism, although a workshop producing the rosewood (huanghuali)
its manufacture and style are clearly Chinese. or boxwood small sculptures fashionable among
Probably by the sixteenth century the early sec- the scholar-official class of the Ming dynasty.
tarian divisions were no longer live issues. S.E.L.
472 CIRCA 1492