A large inscribed gilt-bronze figure of Panjarnata Mahakala, Ming dynasty, dated Zhengde jiaxu year, corresponding to 1514 | 明正德甲戌年 (1514年) 銅鎏金寶帳大黑天像

French Private Collection.

法國私人收藏

This large and powerfully cast sculpture is extremely rare and appears to be one of only two surviving Zhengde-dated Buddhist sculptures. In its powerful depiction of the ferocious Dharma protector Mahakala, and significance of the dated inscription, it encapsulates the importance of Tibetan Buddhism at the court of the Zhengde Emperor (r. 1505-1521), who was himself a keen practitioner. Panjarnata Mahakala, the ferocious protector of the Buddha's teachings and wrathful emanation of Avalokiteshvara, is depicted standing with knees bent on the outstretched body of a crowned deity above a double-lotus throne, holding a kartrika and kapala and opulently attired in luxuriant jewelry consisting of a skull crown of five leaves joined by strings of pearls with coiled snake earrings, bracelets and arm bands.

The inscription on the top of the base can be translated as:

'Commissioned by the Eunuch Wu Liang, custodian of the Imperial stables in the jiaxu year of the Zhengde period'.

As a custodian of the yumajian (Imperial horses), Wu Liang was in effect a manager of all financial matters relating to military affairs at the Imperial court, clearly a high-ranking role. Only one other Zhengde-dated gilt figure is recorded, an image of the Buddha's disciple Ananda in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (accession no. B70S8), illustrated in Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism, New York, 2019, fig. 6.12. Its inscription states that it was commissioned by the Eunuch Jiao Ning, another custodian of the Imperial stables in the same year 1514.

Although the Zhengde Emperor was known as a fervent practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism who learned the language and styled himself as a reincarnation of the Seventh Karmapa, no Zhengde-reign marked images are recorded. In contrast to the Yongle and Xuande reigns, there was no large-scale production of gilt images created for use at court or as gifts to high-ranking Tibetan lamas, so it may be that only the highest ranking eunuchs at the court had the resources and wealth to commission what would have been expensive devotional figures, possibly as gifts for the emperor. The choice of Mahakala as the subject matter of this commission is significant, demonstrating the extent to which even in the Zhengde period, Mahakala retained an important role as a protector deity for the military and was revered at the imperial court.

Panjaranata Mahakala is the protector for the Shri Hevajra cycle of Tantras. The iconography and rituals are found in the 18th chapter of the Vajra Panjara Tantra (canopy, or pavilion), a Sanskrit text from India, and an exclusive 'explanatory tantra' to the Hevajra Tantra itself. It is from the name of this tantra that this specific form of Mahakala is known. 'Vajra Panjara' means the vajra enclosure, egg-shaped, created from vajra scepters large and small, completely surrounding a Tantric Buddhist mandala. The name of the Tantra is Vajra Panjara and the name of the form of Mahakala taught in this Tantra is also Vajra Panjara. Mahakala was adopted as the protector of the Mongol Empire and credited with assisting military expansion. Mahakala ritual specialists at the court were tasked with dedicating temples and images to Mahakala across the empire. A limestone sculpture of Mahakala given to the Musée Guimet, Paris, by Lionel Fournier, dated 1292, is illustrated in Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism, New York, 2019, fig. 1.8, where the authors expound that the inscription indicates that it was commissioned by the Tibetan monk Damopa (1230-1303). Damopa was Khubilai Khan's primary ritual Mahakala specialist, who was himself credited with achieving victories for the Yuan court through the summoning of Mahakala's protective powers. This fusion of religion and rulership was fundamental to the Yuan court.

Mahakala continued to be held in great esteem with the emergence of the Ming dynasty. During the Yongle and Xuande reigns, there were numerous missions from China to Tibet, with gifts including reign-marked Buddhist sculptures. A small number of reign-marked images of Mahakala is recorded, including a Yongle example preserved in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet, illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, pl. XX-3. A large Xuande-reign marked gilt-bronze figure of Mahakala, sold at Christie's London, 19th June 1973, lot 148, is illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pl. 149B. By the Zhengtong period, only three diplomatic missions were recorded, and decreased in number afterwards. No Zhengde-dated bronzes are recorded in Tibet. However, an unmarked gilt-bronze image of Yamaraja preserved in the Potala Palace, illustrated in Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, vol. II, Hong Kong, 2001, pls 362A and 362B, appears to be contemporaneous to the current sculpture. The articulation of the lotus base, jewelry and billowing scarf is extremely close, suggesting there were still statues that found their way from Beijing to Tibet. 

For a smaller Tibetan gilt-bronze figure of Mahakala that could have been a prototype for the current sculpture, see an iconographically identical example created in the 15th century and presented to the Qianlong Emperor in 1756, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Buddhist Statues of Tibet, vol. 60, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 172. A closely related but smaller gilt-copper alloy figure of Panjarnata Mahakala of near identical form, sharing similar precision in the treatment of the crown, face and jewelry, with the same treatment of the scarves, sold in these rooms, 20th September 2002, lot 63, and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th May 2019, lot 2707.

此尊銅鎏金大黑天像殊罕難求，正德朝佛造像傳世僅兩尊，此為其一。鑄像碩麗，塑佛教護法寶帳大黑天，即觀世音菩薩忿怒相化現。

底座上鐫有銘文「大明正德甲戌年（1514年）御馬監太監吳亮造」。

吳亮司職御馬監，於內廷掌管戎事相關財務，官高職重。除此尊之外，僅有一例正德朝鎏金造像見載。為佛祖大弟子阿難尊者像，舊金山亞洲藝術博物館（編號B70S8）寶蓄，錄於《Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism》，魯賓藝術博物館，紐約，2019年，圖6.12；據銘文，該例為御馬監太監焦寧1514年所造。

正德皇帝奉密宗、習藏語，自封七世噶瑪巴轉世，然無正德款造像見載。與永、宣二朝不同，正德朝不曾大量造鎏金像以供奉宮廷或賞賚西藏喇嘛，或可推知，唯有宮中高官階太監方可耗此資財塑造法像，或進獻天子，故而存例寥寥。選大黑天以造成像亦有深意，因大黑天護衛戎馬，於正德年間備受皇室尊崇。

各記載中，大黑天像帶年款者為數不多，如一永樂例，藏布達拉宮，西藏，錄烏爾裡希•馮•施羅德，《Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet》，卷二，香港，2001年，頁1239，圖XX-3；及一宣德年款鎏金銅大黑天像，售於倫敦佳士得1973年6月19日，編號148，錄烏爾裡希•馮•施羅德，《Indo-Tibetan Bronzes》，香港，1981年，圖版149B；正統一朝僅記有三次漢藏交流，而後造像數量減少。西藏無正德年製金銅造像見載，然有一尊無款鎏金銅閻魔羅闍像，藏布達拉宮，錄烏爾裡希•馮•施羅德《Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet》，卷二，香港，2001年，圖版362A、362B，似與此尊出自同時代，蓮座、瓔珞及飄帶樣式皆相差無幾，可證仍有法像造於北京、供於西藏。

比一西藏造鎏金銅大黑天像，尺寸較小，或為此尊雛形，形態別無二致，十五世紀造，1756年進獻乾隆，錄《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集・藏傳佛教造像》，香港，2003年，圖版172。另比一鎏金銅合金寶帳大黑天像，尺寸亦小，形態一致，寶冠、開臉、瓔珞大同小異，飄帶如出一轍，曾先後售於紐約蘇富比2002年9月20日，編號63，及香港佳士得2019年5月28日，編號2707。