Footnotes

明 十五世紀 銅鎏金財神像

This lavishly cast figure depicts Jambhala, a god linked to wealth who was widely worshipped in India, Nepal, Tibet, and China. His rounded belly symbolizes his abundance as does the mongoose held in his left hand, whose profusion of jewels stream from his mouth. The extravagant ornamentation of crown, beaded necklaces, and bracelets overstate his worldly and spiritual affluence as he sits in the posture of royal ease. Excessive embellishments of dense jewelry, all richly gilded such as these, coincide with stylistic preferences of the Ming court, notably under the reign of the Yongle (1403-24) and Xuande (1426-35) emperors.

Reclaiming Chinese territory and culture after the collapse of the Mongol ruled Yuan dynasty became paramount during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). While the Chinese sought to divorce themselves from Mongol era precedents, they continued to employ a model of imperial power defined through a Tibetan Buddhist language of divine rulership, as the Mongols had done so during their reign. Hence, in the process of revitalizing Chinese heritage, threads of Tibetan Buddhism continued to buttress imperial power within the Ming court. The Yongle emperor specifically sought to reestablish a priest patron relationship with the Karmapa, and in doing so fashioned himself as a chakravartin, a universal ruler, through the divine aspect of Manjushri.

In an expression of this celestial power, imperial workshops continued to produce art for use in the imperial court as well for the dissemination of diplomatic gifts, which reached an apex under the Yongle emperor. A Sino-Tibetan synthesis of lavishness and opulence defined the Yongle emperor's imperial atelier which continued into the Xuande reign. The bronze sculptures harnessed the languid warmth of Nepalese casts and combined it with the refined precision of ornamentation of the Chinese aesthetic, in a style extreme in its splendor.

This small, yet highly detailed Jambhala comes from this tradition of casting. Each surface is layered in decoration all highlighted by the warm hue of the gilding. The crown cast in the round with each plaque composed of two stacked beads, the sashes behind the ears curled like makara mouths on either side, the long roundel earrings with pendants hanging on the tips of the shoulder, the two long cascading locks hanging down the arms, and the thick wavy eyebrows detail the face. Looped sashes with dangling pendants drape across the chest and back as a beaded necklace falls along the protruding belly. Deep engravings of floral patterns decorate the dhoti overlayed with a beaded belt and cascading strings which fall across the waist and back. For an object of this scale, all the surfaces are covered in decorative embellishments.

The small scale suggests the bronze's portable use which is also seen in other casts of the Ming dynasty and the following periods soon after, such as the wrathful deity and Jambhala illustrated in Bigler, Art and Faith at the Crossroads, Zurich, 2013, pp. 89 & 93, figs. 33 & 35. Both these figures also possess stout figures and are extravagantly ornamented in a measure that opposes simplicity, even in pieces of this small size.

Provenance:
Acquired in Paris, 1989