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Lot Essay
The black stone figure is of Indian origin, Pala Period, circa 12th century. The inscription states that in the 42nd year, 11th month and 25th day of the reign of Qianlong this black stone image of Mahakala Panjarnata was recognized by Changkya Rolpai Dorje (1717-1786) as having come from Sitavana charnel ground in Bihar state, North India, and that it had great blessing. In the Chinese version, but not the Tibetan, it also names a place where the stone was gifted after being recognized as special.
An identical box, similarly inscribed but with a reference to a figure of Simhavaktra, is in the Berti Aschmann Collection at the Museum Rietberg, Zürich, see H. Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment, 1995, cat. no. 157, p. 210. It contains a figure of Mahakala. As both pieces clearly originally belonged together, it appears that the sculptures were interchanged at some point.
The Qianlong Emperor was a great patron of Lamaism and of its spiritual leaders in Tibet as well as in Mongolia; compare also with a further small gilt Imperial shrine dated 1752 bearing a 9th century Nepalese bronze image of Ksitigarbha, in Wang Jia Peng (ed.), Buddhist Statues in Tibet, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, 2003, cat. no. 60.
An identical box, similarly inscribed but with a reference to a figure of Simhavaktra, is in the Berti Aschmann Collection at the Museum Rietberg, Zürich, see H. Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment, 1995, cat. no. 157, p. 210. It contains a figure of Mahakala. As both pieces clearly originally belonged together, it appears that the sculptures were interchanged at some point.
The Qianlong Emperor was a great patron of Lamaism and of its spiritual leaders in Tibet as well as in Mongolia; compare also with a further small gilt Imperial shrine dated 1752 bearing a 9th century Nepalese bronze image of Ksitigarbha, in Wang Jia Peng (ed.), Buddhist Statues in Tibet, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, 2003, cat. no. 60.