Literature
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24601.
Lot Essay
Both the present painting and the painting in lot 72 are of the style associated with the Xumi Fushou Temple in Chengde, outside Beijing. Likely painted in the imperial workshops of the capital for the decoration of the esteemed temple, it belongs to an imperial Chinese school of Tibetan-style Buddhism that flourished in the eighteenth century during a period of cultural interchange between China, Mongolia, and 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 Geluk sect of Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama, to visit him in Chengde outside Beijing. 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.
