Footnotes

清乾隆 《乾隆年製》紅款 粉彩八吉祥成組

Provenance:
Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1617

來源：
香港佳士得，2006 年 11 月 28 日，拍品編號 1617

The present set of altar ornaments in the form of the Eight Buddhist Emblems (bajixiang) were made for use in temples or chapels. The Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-1795) was an ardent follower of Tibetan Buddhism. Throughout his reign, he commissioned the construction and renovation of monasteries and temples, and the production of thousands of ritual implements and works of art for use in sacred spaces and for private devotional practice. This included the creation of ceremonial objects for new chapels and shrines within the imperial palaces of Forbidden City and the Yuanmingyuan, as well as for the Chengde summer residence.

This set of altar emblems bearing the imperial mark would have been specially crafted for his personal use, or perhaps as a gift for an important family member, such as his mother the Empress Dowager Xiaosheng (1691-1771), who was especially devout.

The design of the present set of Buddhist Emblems synthesizes Chinese and Tibetan decorative elements, and was based on metal versions gifted to the Qing Court by Tibetan religious leaders. An early example of a such a set appears in an oil portrait of the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662-1722) published in Qingdai gongting huihua/Court Painting of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 1992, pl. 14, now preserved in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. The portrait shows the Emperor late in his life seated behind a low kang table and holding a beaded rosary in one hand. On the kang eight polychrome Buddhist altar emblems are arranged in a line. Each emblem is positioned atop a pink lotus blossom emerging from a blue vase-form stand. A faux ribbon is tied around each emblem as an embellishment. The inclusion of these altar ornaments in an imperial portrait, indeed one of the only such portraits executed in oil, indicates the importance placed on this set of ritual objects.

Sets of emblems following this design were then produced at the Qing Imperial Workshops and private workshops in a variety of mediums. See, for example, a set of eight gilt-metal Buddhist Emblems produced for the Empress Dowager Xiaosheng's birthday during the Qianlong period, now in the Beijing Palace Museum (coll. no. 故00011421) and viewable on the Museum's website. Each emblem in the set is embellished with precious stones, kingfisher feathers, and polychrome enamel. The Palace Museum Collection also includes two additional full sets of embellished gilt-metal Buddhist Emblem altar ornaments (coll. nos 故00116958 and 故00117793), the latter of which features a mandorla-like ring encircling each emblem, similar to the painted ring enclosing each emblem in the present porcelain set.

Buddhist Emblem altar ornaments were also produced in jade. The Palace Museum in Beijing contains complete sets of the Eight Buddhist Emblems and the Seven Royal Treasures (qizhenbao) carved from spinach-green jade supported on elaborate inlaid zitan stands , which are illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pp 138-140, no. 114, and pp 142-144, no. 116. See also a full set of celadon jade Buddhist Emblems sold at Christie's, Hong Kong, 28 May 2021, lot 2723.

A number of famille-rose porcelain Buddhist Emblems bearing the imperial seal of the Qianlong emperor have survived, but only four complete sets of the Emblems are known (including the present example). The other three sets vary slightly in their decoration, but generally conform to the same composition. They have, respectively, been brought to market at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 29 October 2001, lot 607; Christie's, Hong Kong, 29 April 2002, lot 535; and in the same rooms, 28 November 2005, lot 1619.

Individual Qianlong seal mark and period Buddhist Emblem altar ornaments have sold at Sotheby's, New York, 19 September 2007, lot 414 ('canopy' and 'blossom' emblems); and in their Hong Kong rooms, 9 October 2012, lot 3110 ('wheel of law' emblem). Five further Emblems, drawn from three different set, are now in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, and published on the Museum's website.