A bodhisattva, or ”enlightened being,” is a compassionate being who has gained enlightenment but who has postponed entry into final nirvana in order to assist other sentient beings in gaining enlightenment. Because they will become a Buddha, once all other sentient beings have attained enlightenment, a bodhisattva is portrayed in the guise of an Indian prince, which the Historical Buddha was before he became the Buddha - that is, in his early life. Gautama Siddhartha (traditionally, 563‑483 BCE) was the crown prince of a small state in the foothills of the Himalayas, but then he rejected worldly life, renounced all claim to his inheritance and to his father’s throne, espoused the religious life, gained enlightenment and became the Buddha Sakyamuni. Thus, as did the Buddha in his youth, a bodhisattva wears a dhoti around the waist, hips and legs and a scarf over the shoulders and around the arms, and is adorned with a wealth of jewelry, from necklaces and earrings to bracelets, armlets and anklets, as does this magnificent figure. The long hair typically is arranged in a high chignon on top of the head, the crown encircling the chignon a reference to the Historical Buddha’s princely status in his youth. The hands held in the position dharamcakramudra, or the ‘Wheel of Dhama’, symbolises one of the most important moments in the life of the Buddha, the occasion when he preached his first sermon to his companions after his Enlightenment in the Deer Park at Sarnath. The three extended fingers of the right hand represent the three vehicles of the Buddha’s teachings, namely the ‘hearers’ of the teachings through the middle finger; the ‘solitary realisers’ through the fourth finger; and the Mahayana, or ‘Great Vehicle’ through the little finger. The three extended fingers of the left hand symbolise the Three Jewels of Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. This magnificent bronze is representative of a group of exquisitely cast gilt-bronze Buddhist figures made in China in the first half of the fifteenth century that display a style influenced by the art of Tibet with its complex iconography. It exhibits the technical precision, perfection and artistic grace that has come to be associated with the gilt-bronze Buddhist figures of the first half of the 15th century made in a style known as Tibeto-Chinese. In the preceding century, under the Yuan dynasty, the authority of Mongol rulers had become closely associated with Tibetan Buddhist or lamaist ritual and this had become very influential in the Chinese court and reflected in the art so favoured in Tibet that was clearly influenced by Newar artists from Nepal such as Aniko (1244‑1306). During the reign of the Emperor Yongle (1403‑1424), who was probably introduced to Tibetan Buddhism around 1380, there was a renewal of relations. Yongle moved the capital back to Beijing and had a new splendid Imperial palace built, the famous Forbidden City. For the construction of the huge palace and the running of the Imperial workshops he asked Nepalese and Tibetan artisans, just as his predecessors the Mongols had done. Missions to Tibet during this period sought to maintain good relations with the Tibetan lamas. Many Tibetan hierarchs were invited to the Chinese capital, where they were feted and presented with valuable gifts.
Gifts court
continued to be even after the
exchanged with the Chinese hierarchs returned to Tibet.
During the following reign of Xuande (1426‑1435) the relations between Tibet and China positively flourished, the number of Tibetan lamas who came to stay in the monasteries in the Chinese capital rose to record numbers. Starting in 1430, Tibetan visitors began to ask for permission to reside in Beijing. They were welcomed, were given presents and allowed to stay. It is recorded that Tibetans began to stay in the Ming capital for extended periods during this time. It is interesting to note, however, that during the period of Xuande (1426‑1435) according to Karmay (1975) not a single mention is made in XZSL (1954) of exchange of presents. This is significant given the proliferation of such presentations in the preceding reign of Yongle. In the Zhengtong period (1436‑1449), however, three times presents from Tibet to the Ming court are recorded (see XZSL, p. 161, p. 188, p. 189.) but on no occasion are return presents of images said to have been made. Karmay (1975) points out that envoys from Helima continued to be received at the Ming court until the end of Zhengtong 1449 and that it is recorded in The Mingshi, chapter 331, that Helima sent eight missions between Yongle and the end of Zhengtong and that after he died, nothing came for a long time until 1495. Few dated figures from the Zhengtong period are recorded. The smaller figures were perhaps intended as personal gifts from the emperor to the Tibetan hierarchs and the larger sculptures were for temple worship. For further examples of dated figures from the Zhengtong period see: Uppsala Auktionskammare, June 2014, a figure of Manjushri, dated 1446 inscribed: ’Dispatched in the (cyclical year) bing-yin of the Zheng-tong reign of the great Ming’. Bing-yin year corresponds to 11th year of the Zheng-tong reign, i.e. 1446. The Victoria and Albert museum, FJ2305, a seated Bodhisattva dated 25th day of fourth month of fourth year Zhengtong 1439, from the Usher P. Coolidge collection, published in Heather Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster, 1975, pl. 56, page 95. The Art Institute of Chicago; gift of Robert Sonnenschein II, a gilt bronze figure dated to 1439 of the Zhengtong reign, 36.4 cms high, cat no.11, no.103. Selected bibliography: Heather Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster, 1975. XZSL (Xizang shiliao (Tibetto shiryo) from Mindai Man Mo shiryo. Min jitsurokusho, General Editor J. Tamura, vol. 10, Kyoto 1954. The Chang Foundation, Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, Helmut Uhlig. On the Path to Enlightenment: The Berti Aschmann Foundation of Tibetan Art at the Museum Rietberg Zürich. A closely related figure is illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. 2, Hong Kong, 2001, pl. 343F.
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