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Lot Essay
This stand initially supported one of the following Eight Buddhist Emblems (bajixiang) : the Wheel of Law (falun), the inexorable expansion of The Buddha's teaching; the Conch Shell (luo), majesty, felicitous journey, the voice of the Buddha; the Umbrella (san), spiritual authority, reverence, purity; the Canopy (gai), royal grace; the Lotus (hua), purity, truthfulness in adversity; the Vase (ping), Eternal harmony, the receptacle for lustral water, the nectar of immortality; the Paired Fish (shuangyu), conjugal happiness, fertility, protection, spritual liberation; the Endless Knot (zhang), eternity. Complete sets of emblems were made to be placed as ornements on an altar.
An official Court portrait of Emperor Kangxi in his later years allows us to have a glimpse of how such altar stands were used. Illustrated in Court Paintings of the Qing Dynasty of the Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1992, pl. 14, it depicts the elderly monarch holding a string of beads, seated behind at a low table arranged with a complete set of the Eight Emblems.
See a complete set of famille rose buddhist emblems sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29 November 2005, lot 1619.
An official Court portrait of Emperor Kangxi in his later years allows us to have a glimpse of how such altar stands were used. Illustrated in Court Paintings of the Qing Dynasty of the Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1992, pl. 14, it depicts the elderly monarch holding a string of beads, seated behind at a low table arranged with a complete set of the Eight Emblems.
See a complete set of famille rose buddhist emblems sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29 November 2005, lot 1619.