QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

AN EMBROIDERED SILK BUDDHIST ALTAR FRONTAL
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
Finely worked in shades of blue, red, white and green in satin stitch and couched gold thread with rectangular panels of the bajixiang atop lotus blossoms and amidst a leafy lotus scroll, above the lower portion worked with large central four-point vajras framing yin yang symbols, borne atop lotus pedestals raised on scrolling leafy tendrils, the stems supporting smaller lotus pedestals atop which can be seen Buddhist monks, mythical beasts, a lion, elephant, and auspicious emblems, all behind two pendent tassles worked with further lotus pedestals supporting characters in Tibetan script
31 x 65 in. (78.8 x 165.1 cm.), framed and glazed

Provenance

Acquired from E & J Frankel in New York in the 1980s.

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Lot Essay

The present altar frontal may have been used on a Lamaist altar within the Palace precincts or have been presented to a Tibetan Buddhist temple by the court as an imperial gift. A related embroidered yellow-ground altar frontal decorated with the bajixiang and the 'Seven Royal Treasures,' from the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, was included in the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition, China: The Three Emperors, 1662-1795, London, 2005, p. 138, no. 43. Compare, also, the yellow-ground altar frontal of similar date and decoration, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29 May 2007, lot 1440.

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