I hope everyone is having a pleasant summer! I have been in British Columbia for the past few weeks sourcing Asian art items for my next online auction at Heffel. I have already found a solid number of Asian art objects over the past few months including modern Chinese modern paintings, jade carvings, and Japanese woodblock prints. I am also working on a very prestigious collection of Chinese porcelain from a Vancouver collector, most of which have not been seen in decades. Hopefully I will be showcasing some highlights over the coming weeks!
This current blog is a follow-up to the last one about my trip to Hong Kong in late May. I was in Hong Kong for a week to mostly preview the Wang Xing Lou Collection that was offered at the auction house Christie's. During my free time, I visited numerous museums like the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, and the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
The Hong Kong Palace Museum is one of the newest museums in Hong Kong and is quite incredible. This was my third visit since its opening in 2022. All of the objects are on loan from the main Palace Museum branch in Beijing, and while there are a few permanent exhibitions on display, some of the galleries feature biannual rotating selections and special themed exhibitions.
Image 1. A view of the spectacular Hong Kong Palace Museum on a very rainy morning in early June. The museum is located in the West Kowloon Cultural District.
The main draw this visit to the Hong Kong Palace Museum was to view 'Yuan Ming Yuan - Art and Culture of the Imperial Garden-Palace'. I spent a lot of time at the exhibition which showcased the Yuan Ming Yuan's Imperial narrative and history from the 18th Century to the present day. You can read about it on my Instagram post dated 4 June 2024 @anthonywuart.
During this visit to the museum, I also spent a lot of time studying a group of Buddhist sculptures that were on display in the religion-themed gallery in one the permanent galleries. These pieces were made especially for Buddhist shrines in Beijing's Forbidden City.
As many of you now, I love Buddhist Art and have wrote about various groupings of this category in my previous posts including Chinese early gilt bronze Buddhist sculptures at the the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and masterpieces of East Asian Buddhist Deities at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.
Image 2a. At the Hong Kong Palace Museum was an important set of nine Chinese Imperial Buddhist bronze sculptures in a 'Buildings of Six Classes of Sutra and Tantra'. These figures were produced between 1758-1778 in the Imperial workshops during the Qianlong period (1736-1795).
During his reign, the Qianlong Emperor commissioned several 'Buildings of Six Classes of Sutra and Tantra'. Each building houses hundreds of objects including sculptures, paintings, and implements used to aid religious meditation.
Each of the sculptures are an impressive work of art by themselves with their fine casting, sharp details, dynamic forms and use of gilding. Seeing nine of them lined up at once is simply mind-blowing since it is rare to see similar pieces outisde of Asia. These were originally placed in the room of 'fourth class' in the Forbidden City.
Buddhism was transmitted to China from India during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 220 AD). However artwork depicting the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni didn't appear in Chinese art until the 2nd Century AD. Initially, Buddhist artwork were paintings and sculptures found in caves along the Silk Road for pilgrims to offer prayers. By the Yuan (1279-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties, Buddhism had become the primary religion in China and also used to propagate Imperial agendas.
The sculptures shown in the Hong Kong Palace Museum did just that. There are nine here, but there are thousands within the Forbidden City, many of which are even more exquisite and larger in size. The Qing emperors were Buddhist practioneers, but also used their devotion to Buddhism to show their subjects that they were part of a heavenly lineage.
The nine figure are all different types of esoteric Buddhas, bodhisattvas and guardians. Here are some close ups of the figures:
Image 2b. From Left to right - Dharmadhaturagisvar, Paramadya-Vajrasattva and Sarvarthasiddhi.
Image 2b. From Left to right - Vajradjatu, Sarvavid-Vairocana, and Jagadvinaya.
Image 2c. From Left to right - Traiokyavijaya, Guhya-Manjushri and Navosnisa.
Image 1d. Here's a close up of Sarvavid-Vairocana, the cosmic all-knowing Buddha. The deity is well-cast and heavily jewelled while holding a flaming dharma wheel (representing Buddhist teachings) in his meditative hands. The drapery and ribbon flows naturally and some of the textiles are incised with brocade patterns containing florals. The three-faced head is compassionate and wears a very tall crown.
The characters on the base states 大清乾隆年敬造 daqing qianlong nianjingzao which translates to 'respectully made during the Qianlong years of the Qing Dynasty'
Image 3. Another really impressive Buddha at the Hong Kong Palace Museum is this large gilt-bronze seated figure of Buddha Shakyamuni. Dated to the 17th/18th Century, this figure depicts the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni. He wears simple robes (where he showcases a fragment in his left hand), and his large pendulous ears signify that he has taken off all the heavy jewelry he wore while he was still Prince Siddhartha.
The casting is excxeptional for this sculpture with its graceful pose, detailed and compassionate face, and realistic fingers. The circular base and large lotus leafs suggest that this piece might be from the renowned Mongolian Zanabazar workshops.
Image 4a. There were more to just Buddhist figures in Hong Kong Palace Museum. Also present were this massive pair of cloisonné and champlevé enamel elephants dated to 1776 or earlier.
These elephants would have been part of a religious shrine in the Forbidden City. The elephant carries a large flaming vase on its back and its body is covered in numerous designs of ruyi-shaped (longevity fungus) leaves, dragons and lotus.
The combination of an elephant and a vase in Chinese is 象瓶 xiangping which is also a homonym for 象平 xiangping, meaning the hope for a 'peaceful existence'. This is where the Chinese phrase 太平有象 taipingyouxiang comes from, which literally translates to 'there is peace when there is an elephant'.
Image 4b. Close up of one of these large pachyderms. The details on the elephant's body, saddle and flaming vase is really stunning. If that weren't enough, you can see the monumental rectangular base gives the beast a much more impressive presence.
Image 5a. There was a group of porcelain pieces in this gallery as well. Here is a set of five famille rose turquoise ground altar pieces with Qianlong mark and period (1736-1795).
These porcelain vessels would have graced an Imperial shrine within the Forbidden City. They were mostly decorative (or at least seldom used) and include a pair of beaker vases for holding flowers, a pair of oil lamps, and a large censer that is missing its cover.
Each of these pieces contain colourful designs of densely packed Buddhist emblems, lotus balls and scrolling vine, all on a rare turquoise ground.
Image 5b. Here is a larger photo of the porcelain censer from this altar set. The body is of a tripod shape flanked by a pair of large flaring handles. The body contains the eight Buddhist emblems (here we can see the treasure vase, holy parasol and double golden fish), all on a very rare turquoise ground.
The mark along the rim reads 大清乾隆年製 daqing qianlong nianzhi which translates to 'made during the Qianlong years of the Qing Dynasty'
Thank you for reading this blog and I will keep everyone posted on my Asian art adventures. At the moment I'm just finishing up an online article for Orientations about the ‘東海道 Tōkaidō: Dreamscapes by Andō Hiroshige’ exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (*note you can now read the online article by clicking on this link), and in August I'll be getting ready for the Fall Asian art season. First off will be a trip to Asian Week New York with later stops to Vancouver, London and Hong Kong.