QIANLONG INCISED SIX-CHARACTER MARKS AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Tsatsas, or molded pottery votive figures, were popular in the Tibetan form of Buddhism. The Qianlong Emperor, like his predecessors, was a devout Buddhist, and maintained close relations with the high priests and lamas in Tibet. It was under the reign of the Qianlong Emperor that numerous 'Sino-Tibetan' works were produced, such as the present group of tsatsas, which bear Imperial marks in Chinese and inscriptions in Tibetan on the reverse. For an illustration of similar tsatsas in situ in the Cining Palace, see Palaces of the Forbidden City, Hong Kong, 1986, p. 186.