.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The inscription can be translated:
Respectfully made by Wu Neng, Right Director of the Directorate of the Imperial Apparel in the third year of the Chenghua reign.
This rare bronze sculpture is one of few surviving examples that bear a dated Chenghua inscription, and is an important piece in the study of court Buddhist art of the Chenghua reign. The Shangyijian, or the Directorate of the Imperial Apparel, was one of the twelve directorates in the Ming court, and was in charge of the production and maintainance of the Imperial vesture.
Various historical records recount the patronage of Buddhism by the members of Shangyijian. For example, in the Tiewa Temple in Beijing, built in 1521, many tiles were found to have inscribed with the names of memebers of Shangyijian. The memorial on the temple tablet of Shifang Zhufo Pagoda in Beijing, recorded that it was through the support of Xue Ming of Shangyijian, that the restoration of the pagoda was completed in 1556 (35th year of Jiaqing). The memorial of the Hongci Guangji temple, also in Beijing, describes how the temple was destroyed by fire in the late Yuan dynasty, and was rebuilt with the help of a Right Director of the Shangyijian called Liao Ping in 1466, the second year of Chenghua, a year before the present Buddha was made. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the completion of the Hongci Guangji temple and the commission of the current Buddha is so close to each other. In any case it seems clear that the patronage from Shangyijian played a large part in the preservation and re-vitalisastion of Buddhism in the Ming period.
Compare a gilt bronze standing Buddha in the British Museum, also dated to the third year of Chenghua, illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 81, fig. 150 F.
Respectfully made by Wu Neng, Right Director of the Directorate of the Imperial Apparel in the third year of the Chenghua reign.
This rare bronze sculpture is one of few surviving examples that bear a dated Chenghua inscription, and is an important piece in the study of court Buddhist art of the Chenghua reign. The Shangyijian, or the Directorate of the Imperial Apparel, was one of the twelve directorates in the Ming court, and was in charge of the production and maintainance of the Imperial vesture.
Various historical records recount the patronage of Buddhism by the members of Shangyijian. For example, in the Tiewa Temple in Beijing, built in 1521, many tiles were found to have inscribed with the names of memebers of Shangyijian. The memorial on the temple tablet of Shifang Zhufo Pagoda in Beijing, recorded that it was through the support of Xue Ming of Shangyijian, that the restoration of the pagoda was completed in 1556 (35th year of Jiaqing). The memorial of the Hongci Guangji temple, also in Beijing, describes how the temple was destroyed by fire in the late Yuan dynasty, and was rebuilt with the help of a Right Director of the Shangyijian called Liao Ping in 1466, the second year of Chenghua, a year before the present Buddha was made. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the completion of the Hongci Guangji temple and the commission of the current Buddha is so close to each other. In any case it seems clear that the patronage from Shangyijian played a large part in the preservation and re-vitalisastion of Buddhism in the Ming period.
Compare a gilt bronze standing Buddha in the British Museum, also dated to the third year of Chenghua, illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 81, fig. 150 F.