著录:出版 Himalayan Art Resources，图库编号8076. 拍品描述:来源 瑞典私人珍藏，瑞典，1930年代入藏（传） This large and magnificent painting of Vajrapani is a paragon of the style of eighteenth-century imperially-sponsored Tibetan-style Buddhist art as carried out in the Qing capital of Beijing and its environs. In aesthetic and iconography, it closely resembles other paintings that have been associated with the Xumi Fushou Temple in Chengde – see, for example, a painting of Kshitigarbha in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (Object no. B72D67), which has an inscription stating that it was destined for the Xumi Fushou temple, and even indicates its location within the building. Painted in the imperial workshops of the capital for the decoration of the esteemed temple, it is an exceptional example of imperial art created during a period of immense cultural interchange between China, Mongolia, and Tibet. Both lavish in ornamentation and brilliant in color, this painting depicts the bodhisattva Vajrapani as a regal prince amidst a splendid landscape. Seated in a yogic position on a lotus blossom over a low throne, Vajrapani holds the stems of lotus blossoms delicately between his thumb and middle fingers; the lotus blossom at his right shoulder supports a vertical vajra while the lotus at his left is empty. His multicolored dhoti is richly ornamented with gilt decoration, while the elaborate necklace is festooned with miniature lotus blossoms and gem-set medallions. Vajrapani’s body is gleaming in gold, and his face is picked out with small red mouth and white urna. His body is backed by a brilliant, rainbow-hued aureole and an elaborate throne back supported by mythical beasts and a luxuriant bouquet of lotus. Set before the bodhisattva’s throne are the Eight Auspicious Symbols on lotus blossoms rising from the water, and offering goddesses shower lotuses and play musical instruments from the clouds above. As a newly established dynasty, the Qing, who were themselves Manchus and not of Han Chinese descent, relied on the discipline and support of other foreign ethnic groups, including the Mongolians and Tibetans, for their dominance of China proper. In the pursuit of this goal, the Manchus propagated and heavily patronized Tibetan-style Buddhism. As early as the Yuan dynasty, the Mongolians had relied on the spiritual wisdom of Tibetan Buddhist masters as guidance in matters both religious and secular. They would consult with Tibetan lamas (teachers), for instance, prior to battle, and believed that subsequent victories were the result of their karmic righteousness. In the following centuries, Mongolian adherence to Tibetan Buddhism only increased, and the Qing Emperors took advantage of this devotion by lavishly patronizing Tibetan Buddhist activities in both the capital of Beijing and in areas closer to Mongolia, such as Chengde. Originally a hunting site, the site of Chengde was chosen for its strategic location north of Beijing, and for its idyllic beauty. It also boasted a massive phallus-shaped rock, known as Qingchui, that was likened to Mount Sumeru, the Buddhist axis mundi. As the Mongols were fervent followers of Tibetan-style Buddhism, the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1662-1722) ordered the construction of various Tibetan-style Buddhist temples ordered around the axis of Qingchui. Under the reign of his grandson, the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795), the site was expanded massively, with the layout of the site mirroring the Buddhist cosmology of a mandala. Qianlong even ordered the construction of the Putuo Zongchengmiao in 1771, a replica of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, complete with a façade with imitation painted windows, and the Puning Temple, a copy of the ancient Samye Monastery in Tibet. The Xumi Fushou Temple was completed in 1780, under the orders of the Qianlong Emperor. On the occasion of his seventieth birthday, Qianlong invited Lobsang Palden Yeshe, the Sixth Panchen Lama and the second most important religious leader of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama, to visit him in Chengde outside Beijing. Like his grandfather before him, Qianlong recognized that the arrival of the revered Panchen Lama to Chengde at the behest of the emperor demonstrated enormous political and religious power in the eyes of the Mongol khans, who were all devout Tibetan Buddhists, and who would also be in attendance at his birthday proceedings. As a fantastic gesture of good will, and a display of his power, Qianlong commanded his architects and builders to replicate the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, seat of the Panchen Lama in Tibet, in the summer retreat of Chengde. The resulting Xumi Fushou Temple was completed in time for the celebration and the visit of Lobsang Palden Yeshe, and filled with countless paintings, sculptures, and other ritual objects. Unlike the Putuo Zongchengmiao, which while enormous, was largely an empty façade, the Xumi Fushou was a functioning monastery and temple. The Chinese architects, however, could not resist laying out the Xumi Fushou on a processional axis in the Chinese manner and in contrast to the layout of the Tashi Lhunpo, thus obfuscating the aesthetic connection between the two buildings.