Buddha Amitayus Qianlong, China

• Gilded bronze figure of Amitayus Buddha, China, Qianlong period, late 18th century
• Seated in dhyana sana on a rectangular throne, hands in dhyana mudra, wearing a simple, jeweled robe enhanced by a separately-molded flamboyant double mandorla. The base is incised with a nine-character Qianlong mark with the cyclical year of gengyin: “Da Qing gengyin nian zhizao” (“Respectfully made in the gengyin year during the Qianlong period of the Great Qing Dynasty, corresponding to 1770)
• Kalasha missing.
• H 20.5 cm
• Provenance: Estate of the collector Claude de Marteau.
• Sold with certificate of origin.
• Visible by appointment, not on display.

Amitayus was one of the most popular deities in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon of the Qing dynasty, particularly during the Qianlong period(qián lóng) , which is the reign name of the Hongli emperor and is not a proper name but rather the motto of a reign meaning“Heavenly Abundance“; he was one of the best-educated emperors in Chinese history.

Amitayus figures are symbols of longevity, and a number of them, in gilded bronze and porcelain, were commissioned by Emperor Qianlong to mark the 60th and 70th birthdays of Empress Dowager Chongqing.

The date of the present figure coincided with the Empress Dowager’s 70th birthday. An identical figure of the same date is illustrated by von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes , pg. 158B, where the author indicates that, using reusable molds, a number of these images were produced. This explains why identical images of Amitayus are inscribed with different dates.