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20 - 20. IMPORTANTE ET TRÈS GRANDE PEINTURE REPRÉSENTANT LE BOUDD…

Estimation 100 000 € - 150 000 €

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20. IMPORTANTE ET TRÈS GRANDE PEINTURE REPRÉSENTANT LE BOUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI Fin de la Dynastie Ming (1368-1644)/début de la Dynastie Qing (1644-1911) AN IMPORTANT AND VERY LARGE PORTRAIT OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA Late Ming/early Qing Dynasty Ink and colour on silk, hanging scroll This impressive painting portrays Shakyamuni seated in equilibrium, with his right hand raised in abhaya mudra and his left hand lowered in varada mudra. He is seated in dhyanasana with feet placed sole up on the thigh of the opposite leg, his right foot over the left foot, on a low waisted lotus petal base supported on an elaborate multi-tiered throne, wearing a long flowing red robe with hems delicately detailed with gold-painted lotus scrolls over a green scarf with colourful five-clawed dragon borders on a black ground, gathered gracefully around his shoulders, tied in a simple knot and revealing his bare chest. He is depicted in his formal appearance, gazing forward in a serene, meditative expression with partially closed eyes below thin, arched eyebrows, his blue hair in tight curls around a protruding ushnisha, his earlobes and chest devoid of any jewellery. The tiered throne that supports the buddha represents Mount Sumeru, the mountain at the centre of the universe in Buddhist cosmology, anchored at the centre of the painting. Mount Sumeru is believed to have a square base and an hour-glass shape. On this painting, the throne is elaborately detailed, each tier with alternating rows of lotus panels below flaming pearls on pedestals, below three larger panels of flaming corals and other precious objects on the topmost tier, with bejewelled and beaded chimes suspended from gilt dragon heads at each corner, swaying gently to one side. The mandorla that forms the back of the throne incorporates an inner border of alternating blue and green waves framing a cerulean blue and green centre enhancing the profile of Shakyamuni, and an outer border of interlinked scrolling flames that serve as a symbolic protector of the nimbus, as well as of the meditative scene. A sumptuous double canopy lavishly decorated with bejewelled chimes and beaded pendants and ribbons forms a veil, and a gilt framework terminating in flaming pearls towers over the buddha enhancing the divinity of the image. Two apsaras gliding on coloured clouds, descend from the heavens and flank the canopy above the buddha. The lower part of the painting is dominated by the vibrant green ground accommodating the central throne, the upper part of the painting is filled with multi-coloured clouds streaked with gold banners against a cerulean blue background. At the very top of the painting is an inscription written in gold within a double-line gold cartouche reading 'namo Shijiamouni zunfo' (Homage to the Venerable Shakyamuni Buddha). The title slip bearing the inscriptions reading Neiting gongyang fozu zhenshen faxiang and Zhizhai hongzhuang, accompanied by the seal reading Gao Baochang yin, the wood scroll ends carved with the four characters Jurentang gongfeng, referring to the studio of Yuan Shikai. 212 cm x 116.5 cm (83 1/2 in. x 45 3/4 in.) 明末/清初南無釋迦牟尼尊佛像設色絹本立軸 The subject and size of this magnificent painting of Shakyamuni buddha suggest that it once occupied the central position of a set of similarly large-scale paintings used in the Water-Land ritual (or 'Rite for Deliverance of Creatures of Water and Land') (shuilu fahui), the grandest of Buddhist ritual ceremonies of universal salvation (pudu). This esoteric ceremony was conducted for the deliverance for the souls of the dead enabling them to enter the wheel of reincarnation, thereby achieving Nirvana while at the same time conferring blessings upon the living regardless of age, gender, or social status. The shuilu rituals gained popularity during the Yuan period, enjoyed imperial patronage under the Ming and prevailed into the early Qing dynasty. The ostentatious, week-long ritual was performed in Buddhist temples and drew large crowds. In various liturgies gods and ghosts were summoned to assemble in a ritual arena. The dedicated space required a vast ensemble of paintings bringing to life the entire pantheon and hierarchy of Buddhist deities, including heavenly devas and arhats, disciples of the historical buddha Shakyamuni, all the way down to the terrifying nature spirits which drew upon the non-Buddhist substratum of animist beliefs. On the second day of the week-long ceremony, these paintings were hung around a sacred space around the inner altar, with figures of the top of the pantheon displayed to the north, and further scrolls arranged in descending hierarchical order around the east and west walls, with matching groups of figures facing one another across the space, elaborated by Carolyn Gyss-Vermande, 'Démons et merveilles: vision de la nature dans une peinture liturgique due XVe siècle', in Arts Asiatiques, 46, 1988, pp. 106-122. Among the most famous and earliest examples is a set of 139 large hanging scrolls presented to the Baoning Temple in Youyu county, Shanxi, in 1460 and now in the collection of the Shanxi Provincial Museum, see Robert L. Thorpe, Son of Heaven: Imperial Arts of China, Seattle, 1988, pp. 119-23, nos. 53-7. Further examples of Ming Dynasty 'Water and Land Ritual' paintings include a very large, and well-known imperial set now in the collection of the Musée Guimet, Paris, dated to 1454 of the Jingtai period, published in La Voie du Tao. Un Autre Chemin de L'Être, Paris, 2010, cat. nos. 2,3,5,13.1,15.1,70.1 and 76.3. Most likely, this impressive and very large painting would have been displayed as part of a central triptych together with images of bodhisattvas flanking it on either side as illustrated by a large painting of the bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (accession no. 53.130.1), dated to the late 17th or early 18th century. Stylistically, iconographically and in its composition, the present painting of the Shakyamuni buddha follows earlier representations of buddha as a painting of the Vairochana buddha now in the collection of the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, (accession no. 1996.0106) demonstrates (Fig. 2). Yet the more vibrant colour scheme, delicate brushwork and attention to detail identifies the current painting of Shakyamuni as a work of late Ming or early Qing dynasty workshops and relates it to another, later set of Water Land ritual paintings made in the late 17th or early 18th century. Among them is a painting of Guan Yu in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, (accession no. 2001.442), which is similarly lavishly painted using colourful mineral pigments and shares the same distinctive colourful multi-coloured clouds and cerulean blue background as the present painting (Fig. 1). It displays the same high level of craftsmanship and attention to detail. An inscription in the lower right, "Respectfully commissioned by the imperial prince Zhuang", the Manchu prince Boggodo (1650–1723), shows that the painting was the product of the imperial workshop. Judging from its style, it was probably commissioned by the first holder of that title, the powerful Manchu prince Boggodo (1650–1723), whose grandfather Abahai (1592–1643), was the Qing dynasty founder. Another large painting from the same workshop and probably the same series depicting Bodhiruma, now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Art (accession no. 2004.70.2), also commissioned by Prince Zhuang, is similarly rendered in ink and color on silk in meticulous gongbi fine-line style (Fig. 3). A third painting from this set was sold in Christie's Paris, 16 December 2022, lot 28. The highly refined style, attention to detail, the colourful rendering of the figures, background and multi-coloured clouds on these quoted examples are very similar to the style of the present painting and provide a reference for dating, suggesting a late 17th or early 18th century date and proclaiming this magnificent painting of Shakyamuni buddha a product of a similarly skilled if not imperial workshop.

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Date 09/06/2026 à 10h30

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