QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

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.