A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF AN ENTHRONED AMITAYUS

VARIOUS PROPERTIES

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A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF AN ENTHRONED AMITAYUS
QIANLONG INCISED CYCLICAL XINSI DATE, CORRESPONDING TO 1761 AND OF THE PERIOD

The figure is finely cast with legs-crossed in dhyanasana, the hands held together in dhyana mudra supporting ambrosia flask, kalasha, wearing an elaborate high crown and jewellery, seated on an integral trapezoid platform raised on openwork floral vertical splayed frames, the platform frame bearing the reign mark, Daqing Qianlong Xinsi nian jingzao, 'Respectfully made in the Qianlong Xinsi year of the Great Qing'; the separately cast openwork ogee arch formed of jagged flames
8 1/4 in. (21 cm.) high

Lot Essay

The casting style of the present figure and its distinctive trapezoid throne indicate that it belongs to a group of similar figures bearing cyclical dates along the bottom of the rectangular frame of the throne, produced to commemorate birthday celebrations of Qianlong and the Emperess Dowager. Compare to a gilt-bronze figure dated to the gengyin year, corresponding to 1770, from the Avery Brundage collection, now in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by T. Bartholomew, 'Sino-Tibetan Art of the Qianlong Period from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco', Orientations, June, 1991, fig. 13; it has been mentioned that the figure was made for the Empress Dowager's eightieth birthday, ibid, p. 41.

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