A SILK AND GOLD FOIL VOTIVE EMBROIDERY OF VAIROCANA

EARLY MING DYNASTY, LATE 14TH/EARLY 15TH CENTURY

Footnotes

Of exquisite quality and condition, its rich dyes and gold thread against a dark blue satin ground give an almost jewel-like appearance. Very fine modulations in color, achieved through the painstaking combination of long and short stiches, create the effect of shading, as if painted. In such a way, the embroidery achieves an impression of pure light emanating from the body of Vairocana. With his hands in the gesture of furthering the dharma, he represents the Wisdom Buddha Vairocana and Shakyamuni teaching simultaneously, depending on the doctrinal proclivities of the viewer. He is framed by a beautiful mandorla teeming with life, a parasol among the iridescent clouds above, and eight auspicious Buddhist symbols (ashtamangala) blossoming within fine lotus roundels below.

This panel is part of a dispersed set of temple banners that would have been given to a leading Tibetan monastery by the Ming court. Each panel contains a different deity following prescribed sets, thought to total six, eight, or sixteen. There are four or five known sets, all incomplete. Similar compositions, subject matters, formats, and techniques are seen from one set to the other, demonstrating they are all from the same workshop and period. All of them have a common dark blue satin ground of identical coloring and weave structure, and red twisted double-chord borders. They depart from each other within the finer details such as the makeup of the mandorlas, or the type of auspicious objects that populate the bottom register.

In discussion of this piece, Henss argued for an attribution to the Yongle period with supporting examples such as period blue and white porcelain that shares the same motifs and an embroidered thangka of Yamantaka held within the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Watt & Wardell, When Silk Was Gold, New York, 1997, pp.202-7, no.62). However, some believe that textile patterns predate those appearing on porcelain, advocating that these panels may have slightly preceded the Yongle Emperor's reign (1402-1424).

An example belonging to the same set, surviving with muddied colors, was published in Hong Kong Museum of Art, Heavens' Embroidered Cloths, Hong Kong, 1995, no.22h, and sold at Christie's, New York, 30 March 2005, lot 196. Three others from a different set were also included in that sale (lots 197-9). Another example of a different set is held in the Cleveland Museum of Art (acc.#1991.2).

We are grateful to Jacqueline Simcox for her assistance in preparation of this essay.

Published
Michael Henss, "The Woven Image: Tibeto-Chinese Textile Thangkas of the Yuan and Early Ming Dynasties", in Orientations: Chinese and Central Asian Textiles 1983-1997, Hong Kong, 1998, p.210, fig.6.

Provenance
Private European Collection, acquired in Europe, 1990


大日如來獻納刺繡
明朝初期，十四世紀末/十五世紀初
背面紅布襯底有藏文三字咒"唵阿吽"，以及"第三"(gsum pa) 字樣，表示其在一組刺繡中之排序。
喜馬拉雅藝術資源網2112號
49.7 x 22.5 釐米（19 1/2 x 8 7/8 英寸）

此幅繡品工藝精美、品相完好，豐富的彩線與金絲襯以深藍色緞底，如珠寶般璀璨奪目。采用長短針組合的復雜工藝，體現出色彩的細微變化，產生如同繪畫一般的明暗效果。刺繡上的大日如來有如周身散發聖潔光芒。佛陀雙手施說法印，既可代表智光佛大日如來，亦可作布道之佛，依觀者而別。其周身環繞栩栩如生的華美尖橢圓光輪，寶傘浮於上方彩色祥雲之中，下方有佛門八寶（亦稱八吉祥，ashtamangala）於精美蓮蔓之中。

此拍品原屬一組寺廟幡幅，現已流散，該組原本應為明朝政府予西藏某大寺廟之饋贈。每幅描繪不同本尊，指定數目的刺繡為一組，據推測有六幅組、八幅組或十六幅組。現已發現四或五組此類作品存世，均不完整。每組刺繡的構圖、題材、樣式和工藝大體相似，表明它們均出自同一時期同一作坊。所有繡品均為深藍緞底，以紅色雙絞絲收邊，色彩運用與編織結構完全相同。它們之間只有微小的細節差異，比如主尊身後光輪或者布幅底部吉祥物之類型。

在對此拍品的討論中，Henss 主張其出自永樂年間，以同期制造的有相同的圖案的青花瓷，與紐約大都會藝術博物館收藏的大威德金剛刺繡唐卡為佐證（參見Watt 和 Wardell，When Silk Was Gold，紐約，1997 年，頁 202-207，62 號）。但有些人認為，織物之紋樣比青花瓷圖案出現時間更早，所以此些繡品應略早於永樂帝統治時期（1402-1424 年）。

與其同屬一組的另一幅刺繡作品色彩已黯淡模糊，可見於香港藝術博物館出版的 Heavens' Embroidered Cloths，香港，1995 年，22h 號，已於 2005 年 3 月 30 日在紐約佳士得售出，拍品 196 號。非同組的另外三幅刺繡也於是次佳士得拍賣中售出（拍品 197-9 號）。此外還有一幅來自他組的刺繡現藏於克利夫蘭藝術博物館（館藏號 1991.2）。

謹在此特別鳴謝 Jacqueline Simcox 協助編寫此文。

著錄
Michael Henss，"The Woven Image: Tibeto-Chinese Textile Thangkas of the Yuan and Early Ming Dynasties"，收錄於 Orientations: Chinese and Central Asian Textiles 1983-1997，香港，1998 年，頁 210，圖 6。

來源
歐洲私人收藏，於1990年購於歐洲