.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The inscription on the back panel can be translated as: 'By Imperial command, on the 13th day, 4th lunar month, 39th year of the Qianlong reign (A.D. 1774), the Emperor ordered Awangbanzhuer Hutuketu to identify this sculpture of Amitayus'. Other than in Chinese, the name of Amitayus is given in Manchu, Mongolian and Tibetan transliterations The text along the base are Sanskrit mantras rendered into Tibetan script. Inscriptions in multiple languages are not uncommon among Palace Buddhist ritual objects.
The title "Hutuketu" is the Chinese version of the Mongolian term "Khutugtu", meaning incarnation, and is an official title for a very high lama. The name of Awangbanzhuer mentioned in the present text refers to Ngawang Pangyur, a high lama in the Qianlong court. His name appears on two thankas, both dated to 1776, illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Forbidden City Press, 1992, pp. 53-54, for portraits of Maitreya and of Bodhidharma, respectively. Awangbanzhuer Hutuketku, together with Zhangjia Hutuketu, the highest lama in China; and Ajia Hutuketu, the abbot of Kumbum Monastery in Qinghai, were all responsible for identifying Buddhist objects for the Qianlong emperor.
A photograph taken in 1900 of an altar in the Zhongzheng dian, 'The Hall of Purity' (situated within the Fujian Palace and was destroyed by fire after the departure of the last emperor Xuantong) shows in situ two very similar reliquaries which are comparable to the present lot. It is also interesting to note the format in which these were placed: on either side of a standing Bodhisattva and among a wide selection of Buddhist images and ritual objects. Compare with a similar gilt-silver reliquary inlaid with turquoise and accommodating a lapis lazuli seated figure of Buddha included in the exhibition, Buddhist Art from Rehol: Tibetan Buddhist Images and Ritual Objects from the Qing Dynasty Summer Palace at Chengde, and illustrated in the Catalogue, 1999, p. 182, no. 81; where it is suggested this particular shape is typical of the shrines collection of the Qing Palaces.
The present reliquary accommodates a figure of Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Life. Its characteristic slim face, painted with 'cold gold' and the straight pointed nose, indication influences from Outer Mongolia. Compare with other similar examples all cyclically dated to A.D. 1770 but each cast seated on a platform plinth: the first in the Chang Foundation, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 21; another formerly in the Avery Brundage Collection and now in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by T. Tse Bartholomew, op. cit., June 1991, fig. 13; and a pair of Amitayus sold in these Rooms, 26 April 1998, lot 616.
The title "Hutuketu" is the Chinese version of the Mongolian term "Khutugtu", meaning incarnation, and is an official title for a very high lama. The name of Awangbanzhuer mentioned in the present text refers to Ngawang Pangyur, a high lama in the Qianlong court. His name appears on two thankas, both dated to 1776, illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Forbidden City Press, 1992, pp. 53-54, for portraits of Maitreya and of Bodhidharma, respectively. Awangbanzhuer Hutuketku, together with Zhangjia Hutuketu, the highest lama in China; and Ajia Hutuketu, the abbot of Kumbum Monastery in Qinghai, were all responsible for identifying Buddhist objects for the Qianlong emperor.
A photograph taken in 1900 of an altar in the Zhongzheng dian, 'The Hall of Purity' (situated within the Fujian Palace and was destroyed by fire after the departure of the last emperor Xuantong) shows in situ two very similar reliquaries which are comparable to the present lot. It is also interesting to note the format in which these were placed: on either side of a standing Bodhisattva and among a wide selection of Buddhist images and ritual objects. Compare with a similar gilt-silver reliquary inlaid with turquoise and accommodating a lapis lazuli seated figure of Buddha included in the exhibition, Buddhist Art from Rehol: Tibetan Buddhist Images and Ritual Objects from the Qing Dynasty Summer Palace at Chengde, and illustrated in the Catalogue, 1999, p. 182, no. 81; where it is suggested this particular shape is typical of the shrines collection of the Qing Palaces.
The present reliquary accommodates a figure of Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Life. Its characteristic slim face, painted with 'cold gold' and the straight pointed nose, indication influences from Outer Mongolia. Compare with other similar examples all cyclically dated to A.D. 1770 but each cast seated on a platform plinth: the first in the Chang Foundation, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 21; another formerly in the Avery Brundage Collection and now in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by T. Tse Bartholomew, op. cit., June 1991, fig. 13; and a pair of Amitayus sold in these Rooms, 26 April 1998, lot 616.