Lot Essay
This lot belongs to the same group as the two other large embroidered thankas in the Jokhang Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet, illustrated by Zhang Zhongli in Wenwu 1985, no. 11, pp. 66-71. It is noted that the similar size, form, subject, material and presentation mark of the two indicate that they were originally a group, originating in ÿhe imperial workshops, commissioned for presentation to Tibet
Like the present lot, the two in the Jokhang have brilliant colors that are well-preserved. All three have gold-embroidered vertical Da Ming Yongle Nian Shi inscriptions on the upper right, the cartouche in red within a gold border. The density of the stitching on all three gives a three-dimensional effect and gilt-wrapped threads are used extensively. The use of highlights and closely related tones of the same color is also evident and reflects the artist's understanding of the relationship between color, light and form
One of the thankas at the Jokhang is 324 x 240 cm., and depicts Vajrabhairava, a manifestation of Manjusri, in front of a flaming aureole, below two rows of small figures along the top and a row of seven offering goddesses at the bottom. The second thanka, 340 x 202 cm., depicts Cakrasamvara and his consort, his body blue and hers red, in front of a flaming aureole below two rows of small figures and above seven offering goddesses at the bottom
During the pre-Yuan Mongol Empire and early Yuan Dynasty, the Sakya lineage was predominant amongst Tibetan Buddhists in China. During the late Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the Karma Kagyu lineage gained prominence as preceptors to the imperial court. The third hierarch of the Kagyu lineage, the Karmapa, visited China in 1333; the fourth Karmapa was at court between 1360-64; and the fifth Karmapa, to whom the Yongle emperor (1403-1424) presented a characteristically shaped hat, visited between 1405-1409. See Susan L. Huntington and John C. Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pala India (8th - 12th century) and Its International Legacy, The Dayton Art Institute, Ohio, 1989, Catalogue p. 357. The Karmapa performed a number of rituals and initiations for the benefit of the Emperor, and Yongle, impressed with the hierarch's spiritual prowess, became his devoted disciple and endowed him with imperial favor. The emperor also ordered the miracles performed by the Karmapa to be recorded on a silk scroll, which was sent back to Tsurphu monastery in Tibet, where it was seen by the Tibetologist H.E. Richardson in the 1940's. Other imperial commissions in honor of this guru included gilt bronzes, rolls of silk and several embroidered images which were especially prized by both Chinese and Tibetans for their beauty and technical fineness. It is likely that the present lot is one such piece. Refer to Pratapaditya Pal, "An Early Ming Embroidered Masterpiece", Christie's International Magazine, May/June 1994, p. 62-63. The Yongle presentation mark in a vertical line on the upper right attests to the present lot being such an example of imperial largesse bestowed on the Karmapa. A carbon 14 test on a sample taken from the thanka is consistent with the early Ming dating, further borne out by the thick-set, muscular limbs and solid proportions, exquisite decorative details such as the floral scrolls enlivening the background and the distinctive lotus bases.
It is recorded that one of the initiations given by the Karmapa to Yongle was that of Raktayamari, the subject of the present lot, and it follows that the emperor might well have commissioned a thanka depicting the deity to commemorate the occasion. That the thanka came to the West from Sikkim, where the Chogyal, Sir Tashi Namgyal, presented it to an English friend in the 1940's is not surprising. Sikkim has had close ties to the Kagyupa lineage ever since the 16th century, when the ninth Karmapa (1556-1603) was invited to found a monastery there.
An embroidered thanka of the same period, but smaller than the present lot, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and depicts the nine-headed Yamantaka, trampling on humans, animals, birds, demigods and demons below the bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjusri, depicted at the top left hand corner of the thanka. Yamantaka is am emanation of Manjusri. Illustrated and dated to the early 15th century by James Watt, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Fall 1993, p.86-7, the Yamantaka thanka is noted in the catalogue entry for "the fineness of the silk floss, the density of stitches, the brilliant and subtle coloration, and the use of a variety of embroidery techniques to achieve chiaroscuro and textural effects", qualities which are equally relevant to the present lot. Also similar is the use of gilt-paper strips and gilt-paper-wound thread.
Two fragments from embroideries possibly similar in size and composition to the present lot, were included in the Plum Blossoms (Int'l) Ltd., Hong Kong and Uragami Sokyu-do Co. Ltd., Tokyo, 1988, sale and exhibition, Chinese Textile Masterpieces: Sung, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. One, of a seated monk or deity, is similar in size and posture to the seated figures in two rows along the top of the present lot, and is illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 20, p. 46-7. The second, of a standing figure holding aloft a bowl of curds, is larger but reminiscent in pose to the dancing figures in the row along the bottom of the present lot, op. cit., no. 19, p. 44-5. This figure is a fragment from the same embroidery as another in the Cleveland Museum of Art, depicting a celestial musician, that is illustrated by Anne Wardwell, "Important Asian Textiles Recently Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art", Oriental Art, Winter 1992/3, Vol. XXXVIII, no. 4, p. 250, fig. 8, where it is dated to the end of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th century.
Wardwell also mentions an embroidered thanka in the museum's collection, depicting a Bodhisattva seated on a lotus base, a part of a set of sixteen thankas, each representing one of the sixteen Bodhisattvas. The sophistication and beauty of its design and the exceptional quality of its technique is cited in placing its origin in a major textile producing center such as Beijing or Hangzhou, Wardwell, op. cit., p. 250 - 1, fig. 9. A pattern of tight floral scrolls on the lowest of the three registers is reminiscent thought not identical to scrolls forming the ground pattern of the present lot.
Compare the large woven silk thanka, about the same size as the present lot, and, like this one, with Yongle mark in a vertical line on the top right hand cover, depicting Mahakala trampling a figure prostrate on a lotus base, the figure backed by a flaming aureole below the two rows of deities and above seven dancing figures holding offerings, included in the Spink & Son Ltd., London sale exhibition, The Art of Textiles, 1989, Catalogue no. 23, p. 26, where the entry notes confirmation of the Yongle dating by carbon 14 testing.
A large kesi mandala of Vajrabhairava in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is dateable to 1328 through the portrait of the Yuan emperor Wenzong (r. 1328-32) at the bottom left hand corner of the piece, and is illustrated in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Fall, 1992, pp. 84-5
An earlier, smaller kesi thanka in the collection of Dr. Wesley and Mrs. Carolyn Halpert depicting Cakrasamvara and Vajravarahi on a double lotus base in front of a flaming aureole is dateable to 1308 or 1360-1364 by the hat worn by the Karmapa depicted on the top right hand corner. It is a type worn earlier by the third and fourth Karmapas, but not the fifth, to whom Yongle presented a hat of different design. See S. L. and J. C. Hungton, op. cit., no. 125, pp. 356-357, ill. p. 60
See also the gilt bronze Raktayamari and Vajravetali group, Yongle mark and period, from the Ukhtomsky Collection, The State Hermitage, St. Petersburg, the figures in yab-yum trampling on Yama prostrate on a buffalo recumbent on a lotus base, included in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and Tibet House, New York exhibition Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, 1991, Catalogue no. 76, p. 233.
The results of University of Toronto, Isotrace Radiocarbon Laboratory, TO-4428 carbon 14 test is consistent with the dating of this lot.
Details:
Covers
Amitabha (front cover), Presentation mark (back cover)
Opposite page
Upper: Raktayamari and Vajravetali, Manjusri
Lower: Dancing offering goddesses, Presentation mark: "Da Ming Yongle Nian Shi"
Like the present lot, the two in the Jokhang have brilliant colors that are well-preserved. All three have gold-embroidered vertical Da Ming Yongle Nian Shi inscriptions on the upper right, the cartouche in red within a gold border. The density of the stitching on all three gives a three-dimensional effect and gilt-wrapped threads are used extensively. The use of highlights and closely related tones of the same color is also evident and reflects the artist's understanding of the relationship between color, light and form
One of the thankas at the Jokhang is 324 x 240 cm., and depicts Vajrabhairava, a manifestation of Manjusri, in front of a flaming aureole, below two rows of small figures along the top and a row of seven offering goddesses at the bottom. The second thanka, 340 x 202 cm., depicts Cakrasamvara and his consort, his body blue and hers red, in front of a flaming aureole below two rows of small figures and above seven offering goddesses at the bottom
During the pre-Yuan Mongol Empire and early Yuan Dynasty, the Sakya lineage was predominant amongst Tibetan Buddhists in China. During the late Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the Karma Kagyu lineage gained prominence as preceptors to the imperial court. The third hierarch of the Kagyu lineage, the Karmapa, visited China in 1333; the fourth Karmapa was at court between 1360-64; and the fifth Karmapa, to whom the Yongle emperor (1403-1424) presented a characteristically shaped hat, visited between 1405-1409. See Susan L. Huntington and John C. Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pala India (8th - 12th century) and Its International Legacy, The Dayton Art Institute, Ohio, 1989, Catalogue p. 357. The Karmapa performed a number of rituals and initiations for the benefit of the Emperor, and Yongle, impressed with the hierarch's spiritual prowess, became his devoted disciple and endowed him with imperial favor. The emperor also ordered the miracles performed by the Karmapa to be recorded on a silk scroll, which was sent back to Tsurphu monastery in Tibet, where it was seen by the Tibetologist H.E. Richardson in the 1940's. Other imperial commissions in honor of this guru included gilt bronzes, rolls of silk and several embroidered images which were especially prized by both Chinese and Tibetans for their beauty and technical fineness. It is likely that the present lot is one such piece. Refer to Pratapaditya Pal, "An Early Ming Embroidered Masterpiece", Christie's International Magazine, May/June 1994, p. 62-63. The Yongle presentation mark in a vertical line on the upper right attests to the present lot being such an example of imperial largesse bestowed on the Karmapa. A carbon 14 test on a sample taken from the thanka is consistent with the early Ming dating, further borne out by the thick-set, muscular limbs and solid proportions, exquisite decorative details such as the floral scrolls enlivening the background and the distinctive lotus bases.
It is recorded that one of the initiations given by the Karmapa to Yongle was that of Raktayamari, the subject of the present lot, and it follows that the emperor might well have commissioned a thanka depicting the deity to commemorate the occasion. That the thanka came to the West from Sikkim, where the Chogyal, Sir Tashi Namgyal, presented it to an English friend in the 1940's is not surprising. Sikkim has had close ties to the Kagyupa lineage ever since the 16th century, when the ninth Karmapa (1556-1603) was invited to found a monastery there.
An embroidered thanka of the same period, but smaller than the present lot, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and depicts the nine-headed Yamantaka, trampling on humans, animals, birds, demigods and demons below the bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjusri, depicted at the top left hand corner of the thanka. Yamantaka is am emanation of Manjusri. Illustrated and dated to the early 15th century by James Watt, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Fall 1993, p.86-7, the Yamantaka thanka is noted in the catalogue entry for "the fineness of the silk floss, the density of stitches, the brilliant and subtle coloration, and the use of a variety of embroidery techniques to achieve chiaroscuro and textural effects", qualities which are equally relevant to the present lot. Also similar is the use of gilt-paper strips and gilt-paper-wound thread.
Two fragments from embroideries possibly similar in size and composition to the present lot, were included in the Plum Blossoms (Int'l) Ltd., Hong Kong and Uragami Sokyu-do Co. Ltd., Tokyo, 1988, sale and exhibition, Chinese Textile Masterpieces: Sung, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. One, of a seated monk or deity, is similar in size and posture to the seated figures in two rows along the top of the present lot, and is illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 20, p. 46-7. The second, of a standing figure holding aloft a bowl of curds, is larger but reminiscent in pose to the dancing figures in the row along the bottom of the present lot, op. cit., no. 19, p. 44-5. This figure is a fragment from the same embroidery as another in the Cleveland Museum of Art, depicting a celestial musician, that is illustrated by Anne Wardwell, "Important Asian Textiles Recently Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art", Oriental Art, Winter 1992/3, Vol. XXXVIII, no. 4, p. 250, fig. 8, where it is dated to the end of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th century.
Wardwell also mentions an embroidered thanka in the museum's collection, depicting a Bodhisattva seated on a lotus base, a part of a set of sixteen thankas, each representing one of the sixteen Bodhisattvas. The sophistication and beauty of its design and the exceptional quality of its technique is cited in placing its origin in a major textile producing center such as Beijing or Hangzhou, Wardwell, op. cit., p. 250 - 1, fig. 9. A pattern of tight floral scrolls on the lowest of the three registers is reminiscent thought not identical to scrolls forming the ground pattern of the present lot.
Compare the large woven silk thanka, about the same size as the present lot, and, like this one, with Yongle mark in a vertical line on the top right hand cover, depicting Mahakala trampling a figure prostrate on a lotus base, the figure backed by a flaming aureole below the two rows of deities and above seven dancing figures holding offerings, included in the Spink & Son Ltd., London sale exhibition, The Art of Textiles, 1989, Catalogue no. 23, p. 26, where the entry notes confirmation of the Yongle dating by carbon 14 testing.
A large kesi mandala of Vajrabhairava in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is dateable to 1328 through the portrait of the Yuan emperor Wenzong (r. 1328-32) at the bottom left hand corner of the piece, and is illustrated in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Fall, 1992, pp. 84-5
An earlier, smaller kesi thanka in the collection of Dr. Wesley and Mrs. Carolyn Halpert depicting Cakrasamvara and Vajravarahi on a double lotus base in front of a flaming aureole is dateable to 1308 or 1360-1364 by the hat worn by the Karmapa depicted on the top right hand corner. It is a type worn earlier by the third and fourth Karmapas, but not the fifth, to whom Yongle presented a hat of different design. See S. L. and J. C. Hungton, op. cit., no. 125, pp. 356-357, ill. p. 60
See also the gilt bronze Raktayamari and Vajravetali group, Yongle mark and period, from the Ukhtomsky Collection, The State Hermitage, St. Petersburg, the figures in yab-yum trampling on Yama prostrate on a buffalo recumbent on a lotus base, included in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and Tibet House, New York exhibition Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, 1991, Catalogue no. 76, p. 233.
The results of University of Toronto, Isotrace Radiocarbon Laboratory, TO-4428 carbon 14 test is consistent with the dating of this lot.
Details:
Covers
Amitabha (front cover), Presentation mark (back cover)
Opposite page
Upper: Raktayamari and Vajravetali, Manjusri
Lower: Dancing offering goddesses, Presentation mark: "Da Ming Yongle Nian Shi"