A RARE SMALL GILT-BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF THE BODHISATTVA JNANAKETU

QIANLONG SEVEN-CHARACTER MARK CAST IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

细节

A RARE SMALL GILT-BRONZE SEATED FIGURE OF THE BODHISATTVA JNANAKETU
Qianlong seven-character mark cast in a line and of the period (1736-1795)
Finely cast seated in dhyanasana on a lotus base, wearing a beaded necklace, armbands and bracelets, the left hand resting above the feet and the right hand holding a jewel, the hair worn in long plaits and gathered up into a topknot behind the five-leaf diadem, the face with serene expression flanked by pendent earrings, the cast seven-character mark reads, Da qing Qianlong nian jin zao
5½in.(14cm.) high

拍品专文

The present figure is identified by the characters Zhihuiding Pusa inscribed on the front of the lotus base, and is known by the Sanskrit name of Jnanaketu. The reverse of the base has a further four-character inscription, yujia genben, which may be translated, 'central to the study of yoga tantra', denoting one of the four Gelug traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

Compare a similar figure in the Forbidden Palace, Beijing, bearing the same Chinese name, also written along the lotus base, illustrated by W. E. Clark, Two Lamaistic Pantheons, New York, 1965, p. 146.