A GILT-BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF AMITAYUS

Description:

China, incised Qianlong nine-character mark, cyclically dated xinsi year corresponding to A.D. 1761
H. 21,2 cm, Gewicht 2,157 kg
Cast seated in vajraparyankasana on a rectangular plinth, the hands held in dhyana mudra and previously bearing a bumpa issuing pea cock plumes, wearing an elaborate crown and ornate jewelry, the contemplative face and upswept hair with traces of red and blue pigment, a sash tied over the proper left shoulder and secured about the waist, all framed by a separately cast flaming pierced mandorla, the front of the plinth with a textile draped over the front and centered by a blossom, an inscription reading Da Qing Qianlong xinsi nian jingzao (Respectfully made in the xinsi year of the Qianlong period in the Great Qing Dynasty, corresponding to 1761).
1st Dresdner Antique sale, Emil Richter Dresden, 7/8.4.1924, lot 329
Published: Koller Zuerich, 11.6.1997, Lot 15
Amitayus was among the most popular deities from the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon in the Qing dynasty, particularly in the Qi anlong period. Emblematic of longevity, large numbers of figures were commissioned in gilt-bronze and porcelain by the Qi anlong Emperor for the occasion of the Empress Dowager Chongqing’s 60th and 70th birthdays. The date of the present figure coincided with the Empress Dowager’s 70th birthday. An identical figure of the same date is illustrated by von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, pl. 158B, where the author mentions that by employing reusable moulds, a number of these images were produced. This explains identical images inscribed with different dates. Cf. a pair of these Amitayus figures dated to A. D. 1770, sold at Christie’s Hongkong, 26.4.1998, lot 616; and an example also with a Xinsi date from the Chang Foundation, illustrated in Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, no. 21 - Bumpa lost, very minor wear to gilding