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Lot Essay
This rare embroidery is in superb overall condition. It bears the name of prince Chengde, brother of Emperor Shunzhi (1644-61), embroidered in couched gold thread.
The Great Fifth (1617-82) initiated the construction of the Potala in 1645 and then received an invitation to Beijing by Emperor Shunzhi in 1650, which he accepted after some deliberation in 1652. Received according to the highest protocol in China, he was presented with numerous gifts and honorific titles. He was perceived to be critical to political stability in the west and was further requested to create a monastic charter in view of the foundation of Tibetan Buddhist temples in China. From the Tibetan perspective it was a spiritual meeting, with the rule of Shunzhi fulfilling an earlier prophecy and the Emperor himself being regarded as an incarnation of Manjushri, cf. G. Mullin, The Fourteen Dalai Lamas, 2001, pp. 203-5. Likely this embroidery was created around the time of this visit or in the immediate aftermath, and can therefore be considered a contemporary portrait. No other example of this type is published; compare an embroidery of Maitreya, dated 1777, for a similar treatment of large pictorial areas in monochrome satin stitch, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, see R. Keer, Chinese Art and Design, 1991, cat. no. 99.
For the cover fabric with the Eight Buddhist Emblems in multi-color clamp-resist dyeing (see detail), compare another example in the Chris Hall Collection Trust, Hong Kong, see Zhao Feng, Treasures in Silk, 1999, cat. no. 08.01, ill. p. 243.
The Great Fifth (1617-82) initiated the construction of the Potala in 1645 and then received an invitation to Beijing by Emperor Shunzhi in 1650, which he accepted after some deliberation in 1652. Received according to the highest protocol in China, he was presented with numerous gifts and honorific titles. He was perceived to be critical to political stability in the west and was further requested to create a monastic charter in view of the foundation of Tibetan Buddhist temples in China. From the Tibetan perspective it was a spiritual meeting, with the rule of Shunzhi fulfilling an earlier prophecy and the Emperor himself being regarded as an incarnation of Manjushri, cf. G. Mullin, The Fourteen Dalai Lamas, 2001, pp. 203-5. Likely this embroidery was created around the time of this visit or in the immediate aftermath, and can therefore be considered a contemporary portrait. No other example of this type is published; compare an embroidery of Maitreya, dated 1777, for a similar treatment of large pictorial areas in monochrome satin stitch, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, see R. Keer, Chinese Art and Design, 1991, cat. no. 99.
For the cover fabric with the Eight Buddhist Emblems in multi-color clamp-resist dyeing (see detail), compare another example in the Chris Hall Collection Trust, Hong Kong, see Zhao Feng, Treasures in Silk, 1999, cat. no. 08.01, ill. p. 243.